Chances Are All That I Need
by Another Sarcastic Teenager
Summary: For Chloe Beale, Beca Mitchell was always the girl that got away. After the Semi-Finals fiasco, Beca stormed away from the Concert Hall, away from Barden University, and away from Chloe. Five years pass and Chloe still can't let the brunette DJ go. But when the Bellas are meeting up for a reunion in Hawaii and get stranded in Los Angeles, will they run into an old acquaintance?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Pitch Perfect and not Johnny Nash's song I Can See Clearly Now**

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><p>Well, Beca thought. Tonight was the night. Or, as Aubrey so had aptly put it, The Night. You could practically hear the capitals in her voice. After the bus fiasco, what with flying Mexican food and running out of gas, all of the Bellas were slightly frazzled. However, they were all also hell-bent on winning and, again Aubrey's words; bring those ding-a-lings down a peg. But watching the Foot Notes in the wings in their god awful uniforms (Beca's words), their chances were quickly diminishing.<p>

Someone, Beca thought it was Stacie, whispered harshly, "Where the hell did he come from?"

"Calm down," Aubrey snapped back, though she looked a little green around the gills. Beca moved a few feet away, hey you can never be too careful around the Vomit Comet, and went back to observing the performance in front of her. They were good, she'd admit that much. But their main singer, the guy who just gave her what she thought was supposed to be a flirtatious head nod, sure sounded young. He looked young too, but the kid sounded like he hadn't even finished puberty yet. Still, the Foot Notes finished strong and Beca could pretty much feel the morale of the girls behind her evaporating.

Aubrey gave some speech that was meant to inspire them, honestly Beca tuned most of it out, and they took the stages. There were a few cat calls and then silence. "One, two, three," Aubrey counted them off and then they were out and singing. Beca sang and danced along although she still despised the routine. She wasn't suicidal enough not to at least fake her way through this.

But as Beca looked out over the crowd, she saw more than just a few people yawning and she could do nothing but internally roll her eyes. However, when one of the filming/judge people not so discreetly checked their phone, she knew drastic measures had to be taken. So, she took a deep breath, her eyes closing quickly before she started singing one of her default songs.

_This time baby, I'll be. Bulletproof._

Nearly every Bella looked back over their shoulder to give her a questioning look but Beca didn't bend, looking straight ahead the whole time. It was a kick-ass edition, if she did say so herself. But she could only hope that it was enough.

_Bulletproof. Bulletproof._

When Beca saw the happy looks of the Bellas as they walked off stage, she couldn't help but feel happy too. However, once they were safely in the wings, here came Aubrey, pushing her way through people with a very irate, "What the hell Beca? Were you trying to screw us up?"

Beca's cranial functions shut down in that instant, absolute disbelief taking over. She couldn't help but sputter, "Really? You're serious?"

"News flash," Aubrey sneered. "This isn't the Beca show."

Oh. Oh no she did NOT. Beca felt her eyes go wide and she said, "Okay, I'm sorry that I messed you up, but in case you hadn't noticed, everybody pretty much dozed off during our set."

Aubrey just sneered again and said like she was speaking to a child, "It's not your job to decide what we do and when we do it. Why don't you ask the rest of the group how they felt about your little improvisation?" Beca looked around to all the other singers, looking for someone to disagree with Aubrey. All she got were the girls avoiding her eyes, some looking at the floor, some at Aubrey, but none at Beca.

In a small voice, Beca asked as hopefully as she could allow herself to, "Amy?"

Amy looked over her shoulder at Jessica before looking to Beca and saying as nicely as she could, "It was cool. But it did take us a little bit by surprise."

Before Amy could finish, Aubrey butted in with, "Yeah, a lot by surprise."

Amy tried to make amends, she really did. "A little," she disagreed, her fingers held close together.

Aubrey straightened her blazer with a huff and said snidely, "I told you she wasn't a Bella."

"Aubrey don't," Chloe spoke up for the first time that whole fiasco. Beca felt herself suddenly get furious (well… MORE furious). Chloe was the reason she was in the stupid club in the first place. If she had just minded her own business and not butted into other people's personal business and showers for that matter, NONE of this would have happened.

Beca felt something inside her snap and she vaguely heard herself say, "No, that's okay. You don't have to pretend you're allowed to have in the group, right?" Right as she said it, she saw the look of hurt flash across Chloe's face, but Beca really couldn't find it within herself to care at that moment. She had trusted these girls and they did THIS to her? After what she put up for them? Oh no, Beca didn't think so.

While Beca was internally ranting, Aubrey was doing hers externally. "Your attitude sucks. You're a grade-A pain in my ass, and I know that you're trying to become captain and ruin this all for us."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jesse staring at her and she flashed an apologetic glance his direction before full on turning to Aubrey. "You know what? You're a grade-A pain in my ass too. And no, I didn't want to be captain. I wanted you and Chloe to get to your stupid nationals and do what you love for people from all over the country. But this," Beca gestured to Aubrey and the awkward looking Bellas in the background. "If this is what I get for trying."

With that Beca shook her head and spun on her heel, leaving behind a stunned Jesse and group of Bellas. However, she didn't turn to look back once. Instead, she stalked down the hallways, slamming open the double doors. Behind her, she heard someone running after her, probably Benji, shouting, "Beca! Beca wait!"

She didn't. She marched right out the doors and hopped into a waiting taxi. Beca was so furious, her eyes were watering and she angrily swiped her hand across her face, unsurprised when it came away moist.

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><p>Tony, an old and wizened man in his late seventies with a mop of pure white hair, looked into his rearview mirror. As a taxi driver, he'd been subjected to seeing the underbelly of humanity. Drunken people, violent people, flirtatious people, and clearly upset people. That last category is definitely where the small, dark woman currently crying softly in the back of his car.<p>

"Where to lass?" the man asked softly, trying not to worsen the water works. Luckily, the young woman seemed to fortify herself at the reminder that there was someone else in the car.

She took a deep shuddering breath and said shakily, "Barden University. Baker Hall."

"You've got it." The taxi driver pulled away from the Concert Hall. The drive was quiet and somewhat tense, the young woman obviously lost in her thoughts. Gently, the taxi driver said, "If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong?" The taxi driver was then quiet, waiting to see if the girl would answer. He didn't actually expect her to, more times than not when he asked a question, he was ignored and treated as if he was a part of the car. Just when the man was about to give up and turn the radio on, there was a soft voice from the back.

"I just got kicked out of my singing group," the girl said quietly.

"Why?" the older man pushed gently, giving her all the time in the world to pull back and not say anything.

There was another long pause before she said, "We were singing on stage and I changed the set. The people in the audience were checking their phones and practically sleeping, so I tried to wake them up, do something interesting, you know?"

The old taxi driver nodded and said, "Aye, aye I do. What went wrong?" The pause was shorter this time.

"It was kind on stage, sort of last minute and the leader is a total controlling bitch so she kicked me out." The old taxi man nodded, looking in the rearview mirror again. For the first time he noticed the ridiculous outfit the girl was wearing.

The man couldn't help but chuckle, "Going on a flight, lass?"

The girl grimaced as she looked at her outfit as well. "It's awful isn't it?"

"I didn't say that," the taxi driver said with a laugh. "Not my place. So what are you going to do now?" The girl's grin disappeared and a scowl replaced it in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know," she said through clenched teeth. "I really liked them, they were like family."

"Hmm," the taxi driver hummed in the back of his throat. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, until Tony turned on the radio. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he sang along (more like belted) along with every song that he knew that came on. Tony knew it was against company policy to sing along to the radio, but the girl didn't seem to mind so he kept right on singing. Eventually, the girl's façade broke and she started singing along with him. Her high and clear voice contrasted with his deep and heavily accented one as they sang along to every country song that came up.

Finally, Tony pulled up into the main Barden Square. He didn't miss the girl's grimace as she looked around at the college. Briefly he heard her mutter in the back, "God I hate this place."

"Then why are you here lass?" the taxi driver asked. The girl started, clearly shocked that the man had heard her mutterings.

She eyed him suspiciously and said slowly, "My dad works here and it's really important that I get a college education."

"Do you want one?" the driver asked knowingly.

"My dad does," the girl said shortly.

"Ah, ah, ah," the old man shook his head and waggled his finger. "That's not what I asked. Is this what **_you_** want?" The silence was a good enough answer. "Your total today is going to be $42.60 lass," the taxi driver announced.

There was no other words exchanged except for a muffled, "Keep the change," as the girl pressed a wad of bills into the old man's hand. She got out of the car but didn't go into the dormitories.

"A word of advice, lass," the man shouted out after the girl. He really couldn't help it, she looked so much like his own granddaughter, but just a little more lost. "Do what you want. Not what you think your family wants. If they were really your family, they'd want you to be happy." That made the girl pause. She turned back around and appraised the older man with startling steel blue eyes.

"Can you wait, just for a couple minutes?" she asked hesitantly. The older man smiled and relaxed into the driver's seat, his arm thrown comfortably around the passenger seat.

"I won't go anywhere," he assured the small girl. The girl nodded tersely once before turning around and pulling out what the taxi driver assumed was her cell phone.

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><p>Beca swallowed thickly as she stared at the email she had received earlier today that she'd been so afraid to look at. She hadn't responded to it for fear that it was a joke, but there it was. The subject line read; Looking for Beca Mitchell, the return address from Manny Ramirez, Head of Talent Recruitment out of Turn Styles Record Incorporate. She'd sent in a demo and resume back when she'd been a senior in high school, on a last minute whim and had never heard back from them.<p>

However, yesterday, Beca had gotten an email during Bellas' rehearsal. She'd been too scared to open it. She didn't know what exactly she was scared of, absolute rejection or them wanting her to come out right away and she'd have to leave the Bellas high and dry before the Finals. Now, though, she didn't have anything to hold her back. The taxi driver was right. Just because her father wanted her to get a college education, it didn't mean that she had to. Beca figured that maybe this once she could go with her gut and do what she wanted. Maybe it was about time for her to put herself first.

Beca took a deep breath and clicked on the email, her heart pumping loudly somewhere in her throat.

_Dear Ms. Mitchell,_

_My name is Manny Ramirez and I'm the Head of Talent Requirement out at Turn Styles Records located in Los Angeles. Sometime earlier this year, you sent us a flash drive filled with mixes you'd created. They were new and creative and I can say without a doubt that that is the sound that we're looking for here at TSR. We would love to fly you out to L.A. so we could see what you do in person and possibly talk about you working with us here in production. Please let me know soon if you're interested in the position. We have a flight booked and as soon as you respond, we'll let you know all the details. You can reach me at (323) 555-0654._

_I look forward to hearing from you soon,_

_Manny Ramirez._

Beca felt like the world had stopped spinning. She wanted to throw her hands in the air, flip off all of Barden University at once, and collapse into a grateful ball and cry. Maybe do all three at once. Instead she decided to take a few deep breaths and dial the number for Manny Ramirez. The phone rang three times before a somewhat muffled voice said, "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Manny Ramirez?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"My name is Beca Mitchell, you emailed me yesterday that you received and liked one of my mixes?" though she wished it had come out more confidently, the sentence sounded more like a question.

"Oh!" Mr. Ramirez exclaimed and Beca vaguely heard some clattering noises in the background. "Ms. Mitchell! It's great to hear from you finally!"

"Yeah," Beca trailed off. "And could you call me Beca? Ms. Mitchell makes me feel old." Beca flinched as soon as she said that. It sounded so pretentious.

Thankfully, Mr. Ramirez chuckled as he said, "Sounds good Beca. But that means that you've got to call me Manny."

"Alright," Beca said, sounding far shyer than she wished. "So did you really like my mixes Manny?"

Manny laughed again and he said in what she hoped sounded like disbelief, "You're joking right? I haven't heard anything like that in years. We've been looking for someone who can bring something new to the table and I think you're it kid." Beca wanted to cry from absolute joy, but still, there was that little doubt in her head.

"Mr. Ramirez," Beca started but she was quickly cut off.

"Eh, eh, eh. What did I tell you about the 'Mr. Ramirez' thing?"

"Sorry, _Manny_," Beca made sure to emphasize the change of name. "I've got to ask. Is this for real?"

"What do you mean?" Manny sounded genuinely confused. Beca sighed and out of habit pulled the hairband holding her hair up in that ridiculous up-do and ran her fingers through the curly tangles, tugging the bobby pins out along the way. She was silent for a few heartbeats longer, trying to figure out how to word her question better.

Finally she said, "How do I know that this isn't just a joke? How do I know that you're not just a temp or some random hobo?" Manny was the one who was silent this time around.

"Do I sound like a hobo?" Manny finally asked and he sounded so hurt that Beca couldn't help but snort slightly. Manny was silent again before he asked, "Beca, are you using an iPhone right now?"

Beca furrowed her brow and she said slowly, her answer drawn out, "Yeah. Why?" Manny didn't answer. Instead, Beca got a notification on her phone that a Los Angeles area code number was requesting a Face Time chat. More than slightly bemused, Beca tapped accept and came face to face with an afro. Well, more accurately, the face attached to the afro.

"What's up?" afro man, Beca could only assume that this man was Manny, said with a face splitting grin.

"Manny?" Beca asked with a disbelieving smirk.

"That would be me chicka. And can I just say that your picture did not do you any justice. Though you look a hell of a lot younger than I thought. How old did you say you were?"

"18," Beca reminded the afro man as Beca had (somewhat) affectionately dubbed Manny in her mind.

"Only 18," Manny mused. "Oh, you're so going to be a riot as soon as we get you out here."

Beca's lips twisted in a half-smirk. "Who said I was going out to LA?" Beca teased.

"I did," Manny said definitively, his head and consequently his afro shifting as Beca assumed Manny folded his arms.

"I heard your music and I wanted you. Now I'm seeing you and hearing you at the same time and I'm telling you that I'm not letting a kid like you get away. No way no how. Do I look like an idiot to you?"

"Well the afro certainly doesn't help," Beca was smirking again. She had no idea why, but she was relaxing in Manny's digital presence. Even though the man was possibly the catalyst that could start her career, she felt comfortable enough to use sarcasm (even though some people call that her defensive mechanism). This man held everything about Beca's future in her hands and she was mocking the man's hairstyle of all things. Maybe she did have a bit of a sarcastic defense mechanism…

Beca's attention was brought back by the picture of Manny switching as the man started showing Beca around the office he was working in. He showed her the offices of some of the main producers. He introduced her to all of the people in the office, always introducing her as 'That chick that I want to ship here from Georgia that thinks that I'm a hobo taking her for a ride'. Beca would smirk and wave to the people and they all laughed at her while introducing themselves.

After twenty minutes of Manny walking around the offices, Beca waved her hand and said, "All right, I'm sold. So you're not a hobo and you're really just a crazy afro man who wants to fly me from Georgia to LA on the off chance that I can impress your boss enough to land a gig with you guys. Still sounds a little nuts to me."

"Ah but therein lies the fun chicka!" Manny said with a face splitting grin. Beca just smirked and shook her head slightly. "Does this mean you'll come out?" Manny sounded so hopeful that Beca didn't have it in herself to deny the man even if she had wanted too, which she so didn't.

"Yeah, I'll come out," she agreed. Manny and several of the people around him let out a whoop and Manny was smiling even more if that was even possible.

"Oh you're going to love LA! When can you leave stinky old Georgia and come join us in the land of dreams?" Beca shrugged though all Manny could see was her face.

"Whenever you guys want me," she said honestly. "I'm good to go." Manny's grin got even bigger (this man was seriously going to tear the corners of his lips at this pace).

"I can't get you on a flight tonight or tomorrow but in two days I can get you on a plane out of the Atlanta airport and into LA. It might not be first class though, will that be okay?"

"Oh I don't know that might be a deal breaker," Beca said but with a sarcastic tone and smirk.

Manny rolled his eyes at the girl and said, "I'll email you the details. It was great talking to you and I can truthfully say that I can't wait to work with you!" Beca agreed, thanked Manny profusely, and eventually ended the call. She could honestly tell you she couldn't remember a time when she was more elated than she was at this moment. Beca turned around and with a jolt saw the taxi and the driver that she'd asked to stay. She rapped on the window softly and it was quickly rolled down.

"Did you have a good call lass?" the taxi driver asked in a comforting, grandfatherly type way.

"Yeah, yeah I did," Beca said with a genuine smile. The older man was dazzled for a moment, this being the first time he'd seen the girl smile. She had such a beautiful smile that it took his breath away for a moment. Beca was distracted and didn't notice the look of wonderment the man gave her. "Do you think I could have your company's number and your name so I could arrange for you to pick me up in two days and take me to the airport?" Beca asked nervously, wringing her hands slightly. This old man was just some random taxi driver, yet he seemed almost familiar. It was like he was her grandfather. In fact, Beca was pulling up more and more parallels by the second.

"Lass," the taxi man chuckled, drawing Beca out of her thoughts. "It would be my pleasure." Beca smiled again and the man took out a business card from his glove compartment and a pen. He quickly scribbled his name on the back, Tony Delgatto, and with a final wave, drove off.

Beca slid the business card into her wallet and made her way into her dorm building. She knew that she should be more upset at what happened with the Bellas, but right here, right now, not a lot could stifle her joy. Not even the soul-shriveling glare Kimmy-Jin glare shot Beca when Beca staggered into the room well past midnight and collapsed on her bed, still in the awful Bellas' uniform. For the first time in a very long time, Beca Mitchell went to bed with a smile on her face.

_I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,_  
><em>I can see all obstacles in my way<em>  
><em>Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind<em>  
><em>It's gonna be a bright, bright<em>  
><em>Sun-Shiny day.<em>

_I think I can make it now, the pain is gone_  
><em>All of the bad feelings have disappeared<em>  
><em>Here is the rainbow I've been prayin for<em>  
><em>It's gonna be a bright, bright <em>  
><em>Sun-Shiny day.<em>

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><p><strong>So thoughts? Good? Bad? Worth continuing? THOUGHTS PEOPLE THOUGHTS. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Not Pitch Perfect and not John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane**

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><p>The morning after the disaster that was Semi-Finals, Beca awoke to her phone dinging. It took her a few seconds to recognize the alert signifying she'd gotten an email. Beca was up in an instant, surprising her Korean roommate as Beca was not even a sort of early riser. Dragging her ass out of bed in time for her 11 a.m. Intro to Psych class was a battle in and of itself. So when Beca's white tattooed ass went tumbling out of her bed with her blankets wrapped around her like some sort of cocoon, Kimmy-Jin was shocked. Beca dove under her bed, scrambling to find her phone from where it had fallen from her bed in the dead of the night. With a few clicks, Beca's email was open and she was flicking through the few promotional emails that she'd received that night, along with an email from a one Manny Ramirez.<p>

"Yes!" Beca threw her hands up in the air and started doing a weird little happy dance that was rudely interrupted by her blankets tripping her up.

"What are you doing?" Kimmy-Jin snapped at her roommate.

"Shut up," Beca smirked, an unnatural grin stretching her face from her crumpled form on the floor. Kimmy-Kin wanted to be offended but she was frankly more ruffled by the fact that Beca was smiling. Which, in all of the Korean's experience with the white girl, had NEVER happened. Instead, Kimmy-Jin just got out of bed and headed to the awful community shower.

Beca couldn't stop smiling as she read the email Manny had sent her. She was booked for a flight out of the Atlanta airport tomorrow morning at 9:30. Beca honest to god couldn't remember a time when she was happier. Now she just had to decide what she was going to do today. Obviously she had to get all of her shit packed up and put away, but other than that, she had nothing to do and nowhere to be.

Beca was about to start doing something that she sure was going to be productive when there was a loud insistent pounding on her bedroom door. Beca tried to wiggle her way out of the blankets, gave up when it became obvious that that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon, and hopped her way over to the door and managed to maneuver the doorknob open. The door swung open and revealed a very startled Jesse.

"Whoa, Beca, uh, hi…" Jesse trailed off.

"Hey Jesse," Beca nodded to her friend and hopped back into her bedroom with Jesse following cautiously. He had never seen Beca look so… not doom and gloom, he supposed.

Jesse took another moment to appraise his normally dark best friend and couldn't help when he blurted out, "Are you high?"

"Am I what now?" Beca asked, looking up from her battle to untangle herself from the sheets on her bed.

"High," Jess repeated bluntly. "Are you high right now?"

"No," Beca shook her head as she finally managed to squirm her way out of the blankets. "Why do you ask?" she asked her head cocked curiously to the side.

"Because you look… not you," Jesse struggled to say what he was thinking in a way that wasn't COMPLETELY insensitive. He wasn't coming up with a whole lot of options. He couldn't describe what was different about Beca because he couldn't put his finger on what he thought was different. Beca's hair was thrown up in a loose bun, her makeup from semi-finals was still on and slightly smudged, she was wearing that god-awful Bellas' uniform, and she looked happy. Oh that was it!

"Why do you look so happy? I thought you'd be all stressed out and upset after what happened last night between you and Aubrey," Jesse said, studying his best friend's face intently. Then, the surprise to end all surprises, Beca smiled. Not like that little half-smile of hers, or her patented smirk, it was a full blown grin. Jesse didn't even know why he was smiling, but something about Beca's dazzling grin made him grin too. Beca didn't say a word; she just grabbed the boy's hand and yanked him over to her desk. She sat at the computer, clicked a few times until her email was up and gestured for Jesse to read. He did just that, his eyes getting wider and his grin getting bigger the more he read. When he got to the end, he didn't even hesitate as he grabbed Beca by the shoulders and gave her a lung-crushing hug.

"Beca this is amazing!" he said as he squeezed her tighter. He felt Beca squirm slightly in his grasp and he released her.

"It's awesome," she said with a small smile. "I mean I wanted it to happen, but I never really thought that it would, you know?" Jesse's only answer was to pull Beca in for another bear hug.

"When do you leave?" he asked. Jesse knew Beca better than a lot of people. He didn't know everything about her, frankly Jesse doubted anybody knew everything about her, but he knew enough to know that Beca wasn't giving up this opportunity. Beca's happiness diminished ever so slightly and she mumbled. "What was that?"

Beca cleared her throat and said, "Tomorrow."

"Oh," Jesse's face fell. "Oh."

"Yeah…" Beca trailed off.

"So you're just going to go? Just like that?" Jesse asked, more than just a little hurt seeping into his voice.

"No, not just like that," Beca shook her head firmly. "I've got a whole day here at Barden and Kimmy Jin is going out on some Korean club excursion, so you and I are going to play music and movies as loud as we possibly can while we pack up my shit."

Jesse raised his eyebrows and he said in shock, "But you hate movies!"

"But you don't," Beca pointed out with her signature smirk. "And I want to spend my last day in cruddy old Georgia with my cruddy old best friend watching some cruddy old movies." Jesse felt a grin form on his face and he pulled Beca in for another hug, despite her aversion to physical contact. When Jesse felt like he'd made Beca sufficiently uncomfortable, Jesse pulled back and looked Beca in the eye.

"Get dressed, we've got movies to pick up!" he announced dramatically his arm flung in the air and pointing at who knows what.

* * *

><p>Jesse lay with Beca on her dorm bed as they looked around her empty dorm room. The only thing that marked that someone other than Kimmy Jin even lived here was the stack of boxes on the side of the wall, her clothes for tomorrow on the desk and her laptop on the bed with The Breakfast Club playing. It was one of the only movies that Beca would willingly watch with Jesse and he made her watch it every chance he got. When the movie ended and Don't You Forget About Me started playing, Jesse shut the lid to the laptop and rolled to appraise Beca.<p>

"I'm going to miss you like crazy Bec," he said honestly.

Beca smiled softly before she whispered, "And I'm going to miss you, you stupid nerd." Jesse merely grinned at her again and started riffling through his backpack for another movie. Beca shook her head with a smirk. "Do you always bring this many movies with you?"

"When THE Beca Mitchell actually offers to watch a movie with me, I have to capitalize on the opportunity," Jesse said with a mock-serious glare. "And besides, I've got a juice pouch in here with your name on it."

"Yes!" Beca cheered. If there was one thing, and only one thing, that Beca's friendship with Jesse Swanson had produced, it was a great appreciation of the pouches of juice he always seemed to have on him. Beca easily caught the juice pouch he tossed her way and speared the straw through with an expert jab. "So I'll leave you like a hundred dollars cash and can you mail all those," Beca gestured with her head towards the large stack of boxes stacked against the wall. "Out to me in LA when I get settled right?"

"Yup," Jesse nodded. They'd already gone over this plan several times, but he was guessing that as her flight time tomorrow morning rapidly approached, Beca was getting more and more jittery. "So you nervous pocket rocket?" Jesse asked as he nudged her shoulder with his. Beca rolled her eyes at the nickname and was quiet for a few moments as she pondered how to answer that.

"Yes and no," she finally settled on. Jesse quirked an eyebrow (a habit he had totally picked up from her) and said nothing as Beca kept going. "I mean this is everything I've ever wanted, right? But what if I screw it up or they don't like what I'm doing or it turns out this doesn't work out or-"

"Beca," Jesse cut off his friend with an exasperated sigh. "You're going to be fine. I've heard your mixes and they're amazing. You played them on air and everyone loved them. This guy Manny said he loved them. And of course it's going to work out; you've put your heart and soul into this. And so what if this one studio doesn't work out? There's more than one out there. You are going to absolutely kill this." Beca looked at Jesse appraisingly, trying to figure out if he was just lying to make her feel better or generally believed what he was saying. When she detected no misdirection in his voice, she gave Jesse a little half-smirk.

"Yeah," she croaked, her voice cracking just a little. She cleared her throat gently and tried again. "Yeah, okay."

"So is there anyone besides my gorgeous face that you'll be out saying goodbye to?" Jesse asked as he shifted slightly in a vain attempt to get blood flowing back to his legs. Beca moved over slightly to give the boy a little more room on her tiny excuse of a bed.

As they both squirmed, Beca said, "Eh, not really."

"Why not?" Jesse questioned as they both settled down more comfortably.

"Well the only things I really did here was the internship and the Bellas. I hated almost all of my classes. So that leaves you, Luke, and the Bellas. I'm sure I can just send Luke an email considering he still calls me Becky and you were there with the Bellas. Not a whole hell of a lot of goodbyes, you know?"

"Yeah…" Jesse let his voice trail off. "What about your dad?"

"Oh. Right. Him," now it was Beca's turn to let her words trail off. "I don't know what I'm going to do about him."

"You have to tell him," Jesse said firmly. "It's not even really an option otherwise."

Beca pursed her lips and practically whined, "Are you sure? Can't I just leave him a sticky note on his door or send him a nicely worded email?"

"No. No you cannot," Jesse snorted.

"But I don't want to talk to him Jess!" Beca protested. "He's going to go on a rant about how I didn't try and I really did. I just can't pass up this job, Jesse."

"I know," Jesse nodded. "So telling him to his face is out of the question and emailing him is just rude. What if you leave him like a letter or something like that?"

"Yeah," Beca drew the word out. "That could work. Maybe leave it with Kimmy-Jin or something."

Jesse nodded with a pensive look on his face and he said, "That could work. Becs, I think you should leave something for the Bellas too. It might make you feel better."

"Nope," Beca said quickly and shortly.

"But Beca," Jesse tried to reason with the girl but she quickly cut him off.

"It's not happening Jess. End of story."

Jesse sighed dramatically but let the subject drop. For the rest of the night, Jesse and Beca sat on the tiny little sofa bed, watching movies, terrible YouTube videos, and scrolling through Beca's never ending iTunes Library. Eventually, Jesse traipsed back to his dorm in Walden Hall a little past midnight.

Beca pulled her legs up into a cross-legged seated position on her bed and looked around her now empty dorm room. She supposed she should feel more of a connection with this place, but to her it was just another stop on her way to Los Angeles. She couldn't believe that she was actually going out to LA tomorrow. And alone too. Beca had never been one to shy away from being alone; hell she'd practically lived it after her parents' divorce and her subsequent self-imposed isolation. Still in the darkness of her college dormitory, all of the fear that she hadn't let herself feel earlier came rushing back to her.

In a flurry of movement, Beca grabbed a pen and the notebook she'd shoved into her laptop bag that was going to serve as her carry on. She started scribbling furiously, desperate to get everything she needed said down on paper. When she was done writing her letters, she carefully ripped the two pages out of the notebook. With only the slightest twinge of guilt, Beca rooted through Kimmy-Jin's desk drawer. A few minutes later, she emerged victorious with two envelopes in her hand. She didn't bother addressing them to mail. On one she simply wrote 'Dad' in her loopy scrawl and the other 'Bellas'.

Turns out that Jesse was right and she actually felt a lot better when she got everything out and on paper. In a fit of inspiration, Beca grabbed one of her many flash drives (seriously she used an ungodly amount of the damn things) and dumped an unholy amount of files from her laptop onto the drive. It took a while, sorting through everything, but in the end Beca had over 60 megabytes of data stored on the flash drive. She slipped the slim black drive into the envelope for the Bellas and sealed both letters with a slight grimace. Seriously, the glue on the envelope tasted absolutely revolting.

Beca placed the two envelopes reverently on her now empty desk and fell back onto her sofa bed with a flop. An hour later she fell into a fitful sleep that had her waking up every half hour to ensure that she didn't oversleep and miss her flight. When the time had finally come and Tony honked his horn twice outside the dorm, Beca had already been up for an hour. She placed her dorm key on the desk next to the letters and specific instructions for Kimmy-Jin regarding said letters. As she slung her laptop bag onto her shoulder, she looked back at her room. She took a deep breath and shut the door behind her for the last time.

"Hey Tony," Beca said with a small smile as she slid in the backseat of the taxi, having already tossed her two suitcases and her carry on in the trunk of the cab. "How are you today?"

"Doing just great lass," Tony said with a wide grin, his Irish accent comforting and familiar to Beca. "How about you? You're looking a mite happier than the last time I saw you." Beca chuckled softly and Tony laughed along with her.

The two exchanged pleasantries and general conversation the entire drive up to the airport. Tony didn't ask where Beca was headed after the airport. All he needed to know was where he was taking her first. That and the girl did look significantly happier than when he'd last seen her. She still didn't smile that breathtaking grin that had stunned Tony, but her little smirks and sneers had become more light-hearted and even frequently replaced with a quirky half-grin. At the airport, Beca slapped the correct amount of bills into Tony's palm and thanked him again.

"Wherever you're going lass, I hope you're happy. You deserve it," Tony said sincerely.

Beca gave Tony her heart stopping smile and she said softly, "Thank you."

"For what lass?" Tony asked, his voice still conveying his awe.

Beca's smile was softer this time and she said quietly, "For giving me the courage to do what I always wanted to."

"You always had the courage lass," Tony said with conviction. "I just reminded you it was in there." Beca smiled again and stepped back and waved goodbye to Tony. Tony waved back and watched as the quiet girl with three suitcases and a laptop bag disappeared through the doors into LAX. "Beca Mitchell," the taxi driver mused to himself. He'd have to be sure to remember that name.

_All my bags are packed I'm ready to go  
>I'm standin' here outside your door<br>I hate to wake you up to say goodbye  
>But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn<br>The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn  
>Already I'm so lonesome I could die<em>

_So kiss me and smile for me_  
><em>Tell me that you'll wait for me<em>  
><em>Hold me like you'll never let me go<em>  
><em>Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane<em>  
><em>Don't know when I'll be back again<em>  
><em>Oh baby, I hate to go<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts? Also, the reviews I got from you guys at the start made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I'm planning on releasing a chapter once a week, either Friday night or Saturday morning. If you all want I can try and move the date up, but the last couple of stories I wrote kind of blow up without anything planned out, so I'm trying a schedule this time around. I feel like I'm maturing...<strong>

**Also, thanks for the reception of Manny and Tony! I know they're not vital to the story and some people positively despise the introduction of OC's, but they're not going to play a huge part in the story. Well... Tony won't. This was probably his last appearance so say Adios! However, starting next chapter Manny's going to be resurfacing. Sorta. A little. Maybe in two chapters...**

**There's also two ways that Chapter 4 is going to work out. Option A is skipping over the Bellas reaction to the letter Beca left them and instead the reaction being shown in flashbacks. Option B is I take an almost filler chapter to fill you all in. Drop a review with what you prefer. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING. Boo you hoes. Not Pitch Perfect and not Jon McLaughlin's ****_Proud Father_****.**

* * *

><p>Kimmy-Jin disliked her roommate. Like, a lot. The annoying white girl had an obnoxious obsession with music, and she was up at all hours of the night with her laptop glowing. Although ever since she'd joined the group of singer girls, she'd been out of the dorm more frequently. However, if there was one thing that Kimmy-Jin could appreciate about Beca was her lack of communication.<p>

After their initial meeting in which Beca had attempted to establish a friendly relationship which Kimmy-Jin was more than willing to admit that she shot Beca down mercilessly, they were quiet. Two ships passing in the night. There was no awkward invitations to 'hang out', no idle chitchat, and Kimmy-Jin would have it no other way. That's not to say she hated hanging out with other people. It just had to be people she tolerated, such as the members of Barden's Korean Alliance. So Kimmy-Jin and Beca had settled into a wonderful rhythm. They wouldn't talk and they wouldn't associate with each other; they would just walk into the room at all hours of the night and glare at the other.

However, one night when Kimmy-Kin came back from a field trip with the Korean club, she came home to an empty dorm room. Literally. All of the white girl's stuff was gone, leaving behind a wonderfully blank room. On what used to be Beca's desk, there were two envelopes and what looked like a sticky note. Kimmy-Jin strode over (considering their shoebox of a room, it wasn't really that hard) and looked at the envelopes. On one in remarkably graceful handwriting was the word 'Dad' and the other 'Bellas'. Kimmy-Jin decided to bypass the letters and instead scooped up the post-it note. Written in the same scrawling writing was a short note addressed to the Asian. Kimmy-Jin skimmed the note and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. However, who was she to deny a final request from an almost ideal roommate?

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number at the bottom of the note. "Hello, Dr. Mitchell? Yeah, my name is Kimmy-Jin, I'm Beca's roommate. You need to come to our dormitory now." There was a pause and then, "No, she's fine. You just… you just have to come over here right now." With a dramatic jab of her finger, Kimmy-Jin ended the call. Huh. There was a much more satisfactory feeling when she used to be able to slam a flip phone shut. Oh well. Kimmy-Jin went over to her own desk and started on her Biology analysis. So what she was now lacking a roommate? That didn't mean that she was going to just ignore her paper.

* * *

><p>Dr. Warren Mitchell all but sprinted across the quad. As he glanced to his right, his brain vaguely registered a group of students gathered underneath the tree that his daughter often sat beneath for hours at a time. The reminder of Beca had Dr. Mitchell going even faster. Well, as fast as a tenured English professor can run. Soon, but not soon enough, Dr. Mitchell was bounding up the stairs to his daughter's third floor dorm room and skidding to a stop in front of room 325. He knocked hastily on the door and tapped his foot incessantly as he waited for it to be answered.<p>

Kimmy-Jin had barely pulled the door open when Dr. Mitchell shoved his way in and looked around wildly. It took him a second to register that Beca wasn't even in the room. It took him another second to realize that none of her stuff was either. Dr. Mitchell was very confused and desperately needed answers, yet he couldn't form a cognitive thought at the moment, much less an actual question.

Fortunately, his daughter's roommate seemed to know what he was thinking and she said in a curt tone, "She's gone."

The ever so educated and brilliant mind of Dr. Warren E. Mitchell could only come up with the intelligible response of, "Eh?"

"Beca's gone," Kimmy-Jin repeated slowly.

"Oh," Dr. Mitchell gasped. "Oh." With no amount of grace, the professor fell back on what used to be his daughter's bed, which was now void of any sheets or pillows. Dr. Mitchell leaned forward and grabbed his head in his hands and just sat there in silence. Once again, Kimmy-Jin seemed to know what was going on in the older man's mind and she left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

Right before she left, however, she told her ex-roommate's father, "She left you a letter. It's on the desk." Dr. Mitchell gave no indication that he'd heard the girl speak but she left anyway. Dr. Mitchell didn't move for a while until finally he got up stiffly and retrieved the plain white envelope from the desk. With the envelope gingerly in his hand, Dr. Mitchell went back to the edge, perched right on the edge. He warily thumbed the envelope with the single word 'Dad' scrawled on it in Beca's handwriting. Dr. Mitchell stared at the envelope for another moment, more than a little hesitant to see what was inside.

Contrary to popular belief, Warren Mitchell wanted absolutely nothing less than the best for his daughter. He'd thought that coming out to college, being around others her age and interacting with new people, would draw Beca out of her self-imposed shell. But now Warren was facing the very real reality that Beca hated him for doing his best and would never want to talk to him again. Finally, he mustered up the courage to gently slit the envelope open and pull out the folded letter within. It took him a little more time to unfold the paper and force himself to read the words on the page, the entire time holding his breath in fearful anticipation.

_Dear Dad, _

_At the beginning of the year I resented you. Like a lot. I thought you were trying to force me to be something I'm not in a place I didn't want to be at. Now, though, I get it. I really do. You wanted what you thought was best for me and I really am grateful of that. So I tried Dad. I really truly did. I just wasn't happy. So I'm going to L.A. I got a job offer at a record production company. I know you don't think I can make a job or career out of this, but I love it and I'm going to take this chance. I know this isn't what you wanted from your kid, but I'm going to do my best and I think I have a better chance of being happy. At the end of the day, I'd rather be like me than be like you. And if you don't want to talk to me anymore, or if I've disappointed you too many times, I get it. Just thought I'd tell you I love you and I'm sorry. If you want to stay in contact, I'll text you with my new cell number as soon as I get settled.  
><em>

_Love,_

_Beca _

Dr. Mitchell smiled to himself sadly. Yes, at the end of the day, all he'd wanted was for his daughter to be happy. He was just sorry it couldn't be here with him. Dr. Mitchell pulled out his cellphone and tapped out a simple text before heading out of Baker Hall, the letter tucked into the inner pocket of his blazer. As he walked out of the dormitories, a small smile graced his features. Yes, he was sad. But then again he was incredibly happy and proud at the same time. His daughter had had the courage to stand up for what she wanted and was off to make her dreams a reality. What father could possibly hate his child for something like that? And somewhere, wherever she was in LA right now, Dr. Mitchell knew that Beca was going to be just fine.

Los Angeles had no idea who was coming its way.

* * *

><p>Chloe Beale gripped her head in her hands. The Bellas had all met agreed to meet at their usual practice hall after Aubrey had gotten the call confirming that that Foot Notes singer was totally still in high school (of course he was. Most, not all, but most college kids' voices had actually dropped and they'd started growing at least peach fuzz). Everyone had been excited at first, Fat Amy summing up the general consensus with a jovial, "Shaloom!" Sure there was the white elephant in the room of a certain missing vertically challenged DJ, but no one brought it up. No one brought <strong><em>her<em> **up.

But she wasn't leaving Chloe's mind. Well... she never really did. After they had that absolutely AMAZING duet in the showers, Chloe found herself unable to think of anything or anyone else besides Beca Mitchell. However, right now Beca's absence was the least of her issues. Because the Barden Bellas were falling apart and they sounded like absolute shit, not necessarily in that order. And to top if off, Aubrey wouldn't stop bitching at all of them for every possible reason under the sun. "Chloe, you sound like you smoke six packs a day," Aubrey snapped and Chloe felt something inside her snap along with it.

"For the love of God Aubrey, shut up!" she shouted. Every Bella immediately stopped what they were doing and turned as one to look at their two captains. Aubrey was standing with her mouth hanging agape and Chloe in front of her with her arms crossed over her chest defiantly.

"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey asked in a dangerously low voice. Chloe rolled her eyes, the other senior's compulsive need to add the prefix –aca to damn near everything she could grating on her nerves yet again.

With a slight sneer and a cocked eyebrow, she said, "What, tired of having your own words thrown back at you for once, Bree?" Aubrey didn't even flinch at the use of the nickname Chloe gave her freshman year.

"No, not really," Aubrey shot right back with a remarkably snide tone. "I just can't really hear you over the stupid little alt's girls emo tracks coming out of your mouth." Chloe looked both taken aback and hurt by the blonde's choice of words.

However, she soon regained enough composure to ask icily, "Just what do you mean by that Posen?"

"Exactly what I said, Beale," Aubrey's words were just as cold as her best friend's. Although at the rate they were going that was soon going to be ex-best friends. "Do you want help getting your knife? I'd love to help but I don't really think I can reach it in my back," Aubrey all but spat at the redhead.

There was a loud call of, "OOHHHH," from somewhere in the general direction of Fat Amy but neither senior bothered to look at her.

Chloe didn't take the obvious bait, though, and snapped, "Grow up."

"She was a back-stabbing, conniving bitch who wanted nothing more than to ruin our chance of Nationals," Aubrey stated snidely and coldly, as if Chloe was an incompetent child for not realizing it for herself.

"She wanted to help us Aubrey!" Chloe cut off the blonde before she could really get on a roll. "She tried to help us in the only way she knew how Aubrey. And we sounded good Aubrey! Really good."

"She was trying to ruin us!" Aubrey all but screamed. And that was the last straw. Somewhere in the back of Aubrey's throat an UNGODLY amount of vomit came spewing out of the blonde's mouth.

Chloe, long since used to dealing with this unfortunate habit of Aubrey's, didn't even flinch. "Come on," she waved her hands in a 'come at me bro' motion. "You can do better than that." Aubrey's vomit stream slowed down and all was silent in the practice hall.

"We could have been champions!" Chloe shrieked at her best friend as she lunged for the taller woman. Aubrey let out a surprised yelp as Chloe's body slammed into her own and sent both women sprawling. The two started rolling around, scratching, biting, and clawing at whatever they could get their hands on.

As the group watched their impenetrable captains' rule disintegrate and descend into anarchy, the rest of the group fell apart right along with them. Cynthia-Rose chose NOW of all times to make a move on Stacie, Jessica, Denise, and Ashley stood by screeching helpfully, and Fat Amy stood there shouting some bizarre Tasmanian battle cry. As soon as Fat Amy lunged at the two captains who were still on the ground wrestling for the loose pitch pipe, all hell broke loose.

Well… **_more_** hell broke loose, if at all possible. Aubrey's wild flailing knocked Lily over into her previously spewed, erm, _nervous reaction_, and the quiet and somewhat disturbing girl started moving her arms and legs, making a repulsive vomit angel. Fat Amy now had both of the seniors in matching head locks and was screaming something about dingos and bitches. Denise, Ashley, and Jessica's shrieks reached a new decibel and under normal circumstances, anyone listening would wince. Stacie was now grabbing her boobs while attempting to climb up the auditorium seats, an action made slightly more difficult by the fact Cynthia-Rose was shoving on her ass and Stacie was chirping her rape whistle nonstop. And Aubrey and Chloe just started fighting harder.

In a rather flexible maneuver, Aubrey managed to wriggle her way out of Fat Amy's grasp and she made a desperate dive for the pitch pipe. However, as soon as Aubrey was gone, Amy released her hold on Chloe and the redhead perfectly predicted what her best friend's next movement was going to be. She sprung forward at the exact same time and they both collided in a mass of sprawling limbs, each one kicking and lashing out in a vain effort to gain an advantage over the other.

"Dammit, Aubrey!" Chloe bellowed. The simple exclamation was enough to make Aubrey pause. Chloe very rarely cursed and it was almost never directed at Aubrey. The last time had ended with them not talking for a solid three months their sophomore year and the two still couldn't talk about the incident without one of them storming out of the room. Suffice to say; to hear Chloe cursing out her best friend had Aubrey pausing. The pause was just long enough for Chloe to tackle Aubrey and pin her down.

"So this is all my fault?" Aubrey spat up at Chloe.

"That's not what I'm saying Bree," Chloe said with a weary sigh. The change in tone had Aubrey relaxing and staring at Chloe with equally fatigued eyes. "I just wish you would just learn to let go. I have watched you self-destruct for the past six months, Aubrey. All I want is my best friend back. Beca knew that. I told her how you used to be, how **we** used to be and she knew that the Bellas and Nationals meant everything to you. We weren't going to advance at semis. I knew that. Beca knew that. And you cannot possibly tell me that you didn't know it either Aubrey. You're way too smart for something like that."

Chloe's sincere tone had Aubrey pausing yet again and looking down in shame. "It's over Aubrey," Chloe said with a defeated sigh. "We can't win without Beca and you know it. Even now you're denying it to yourself over and over again. When do you finally admit to yourself that you've been lying through your teeth?" Aubrey said nothing.

Chloe's blue eyes stared straight into Aubrey's green ones with a haunting and determined gaze. With a slight shake of her head, Chloe rolled off Aubrey and grabbed her purse. Without bothering to look back at the now quiet Bellas, Chloe stalked out of the auditorium.

Back inside, there was only silence. Aubrey was still lying on the ground. She couldn't make herself get up and go after her best friend and she certainly couldn't tell herself that everything Chloe had just said was a lie, but damn was she going to try. All the Bellas had gone silent as well. Cynthia-Rose had abandoned her position of shoving upward on Stacie's ass and they were both standing next to Denise and Ashley and watching on. Somewhere along the best friends' argument, Fat Amy had hoisted Lily up to her feet and they'd done the best they could to get the vomit off of Lily to very little avail. All five of the remaining Bellas stood watching Aubrey impassively. Their blonde captain remained in a horizontal and motionless position for a good several minutes.

"You know she's right," Fat Amy broke the silence. Aubrey tilted her head to give Fat Amy a look without getting up. "We're nothing without Beca."

"Yeah," her statement was backed up by a soft chorus of agreement from all the Bellas.

Aubrey was quiet before finally taking a deep breath in and out. "Yeah…" she breathed. "I know…"

* * *

><p>Beca stretched slightly as the little buckle up sign on the plane seat stopped blinking at her and the voice over the loudspeaker welcomed them to Los Angeles, rattling off a current time, weather, and temperature: 11 am, sunny, and 61 degrees. She gave a slight groan of satisfaction as her back popped and cracked several times. While all the other patrons on the plane rushed to the overhead bins and into the aisles in a mass exodus, Beca stayed in her row. As she waited, she pulled out her phone.<p>

She rubbed at her eyes blearily and waited for her phone to turn back on. Almost as soon as the apple logo had faded from the screen, she got a short vibrate signifying a received text message. Beca was more than a little shocked to see it was from her dad. She was also more than a little scared. It had taken a while for her and her dad to start repairing the damages done to their relationship caused by the divorce and Beca would really hate for all that effort to be in vain.

So in an effort to delay the inevitable, she waited. Well, perhaps stalled would be a more accurate description. She took her time to get everything packed up and put away, excluding her headphones which stayed wrapped around her neck. She checked and double-checked to make sure that she had everything stowed away safely in her laptop bag. Beca had been emailing with Manny nearly the entire plane ride, firing emails off a rate so quick they may as well have been texting. The two had damn near every detail of Beca's arrival into LA planned, down to where she would be staying and where the best Chinese restaurants in the area were.

Manny was apparently thrilled to have Beca out in his neck of the woods, made evident by his overuse of exclamation points and capital letters. Beca was even all set to have someone pick her up at the airport and she had to admit, she was so beyond excited. Who wouldn't be thrilled to have a professional (-ish) driver waiting for them with their name scrawled on a white board? Beca referred to her ride only as professional-ish because apparently Manny had a cousin who was a valet/caddy/something else that Manny wasn't quite willing to divulge over email. So yeah, Beca could very well be getting picked up by a car thief. Ah well, at least she was going to get picked up and he was going to have a sign.

As the plane finally started to empty, Beca started to move out of her seat aisle. She swung her laptop bag which she'd stowed underneath the seat during the flight up and over her shoulder. She pulled her small carry on suitcase down out of the overhead bin and yanked out the handle. Most of the impatient and all around rude passengers had already filed off the plane so from this point on it was smooth sailing. She thanked the flight attendants shortly and exited the plane. A quick stop at the restroom and she was on her way to baggage claim.

She waited, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground, she couldn't help but feel that her phone was burning a hole through her pocket. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She pulled her iPhone from her pocket and stared at the little green message button. It had a little red speech bubble, indicating one unread message. Beca took a deep breath and with baited breath, she clicked it open. While she read the text, all she could do was smile. Smile the first genuine smile in reaction to her father for a VERY long time and then laugh slightly in relief and disbelief.

When she saw her two black bags making their rounds on the carousel, she yanked them both off the conveyor belt and headed out to the waiting area, looking for a guy with a white board and 'Beca Mitchell' scribbled on his board. All the time smiling as she thought of the text her father had sent.

**Dad: Go and get 'em kiddo**

_There will be crying,  
>being the man that you should.<br>But, always be trying,  
>to see all the bad and the good.<br>And yours is a promising future,  
>but, know if it all were to fade.<br>That a proud father of me  
>you have already made.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>AND CUT! Boom buddy! So I may or may not have stretched the truth. Next chapter will NOT be the Bella's reaction. But general consensus said they would like to see that, so it'll probably happen later. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe?<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Still own nothing, including Fleetwood Mac's ****You Can Go Your Own Way**

* * *

><p>Beca Mitchell did not get nervous. Beca Mitchell did not get worked up over something as simple as a job interview. Beca Mitchell was so scared that she was 85% sure that at some point in the very near future she was going to piss her pants.<p>

"Niña nervioso?" _Nervous little girl?_ Manny's cousin, Diego Juarez, asked in his incredibly thick Hispanic accent. Beca shot the young man a smirk. She may or may not have let it slip to the man that she spoke a little bit of Spanish (five years of Spanish in high school actually paid off, who knew?) and the man had not stopped yabbering away to her in his native language since.

She rubbed her palms quickly on the legs of her skinny jeans and quickly responded, "Sólo un poco." _Just a little_.

"You will be fine hermanita," Diego said firmly. "That CD you played is no joke. They'd be crazy not to sign you. I've heard worse running around with microphones in this town."

"That's really not comforting," Beca mumbled and Diego laughed slightly.

"Relax chicka," he soothed, his accent washing over her. "My cousin is a good man. He would not bring you all the way out here just to turn you away. Have faith."

"Right," Beca breathed softly. "Faith. I can do that. Maybe…"

* * *

><p>Beca shifted from one foot to another staring slightly slack-jaw at the building in front of her. It was a massive metal and glass composition and looked incredibly modern. Overtop the front glass doors was a massive sign proclaiming the building as TurnStyles Records Incorporate.<p>

Oh holy shit, she was 99.99% sure that she was going to piss her pants now. This was terrifying. Sure this was everything she'd been working for ever since she was 13, but still. To have it all in front of her and all it would take to ruin it would be one mistake. One little, measly, insignificant mistake. Shit fuck damn.

One deep breath and Beca wrung her hands one last time before stepping in through the front door. The lobby was mostly empty and incredibly white. Not the first things that anyone else would notice but hey, adrenaline addled brains pick up on the weirdest things, huh? Speaking of weird, what sort of plant **_was_** that? It looked like a tiger lily fused with a cactus on steroids. The damn thing was bigger than she was!

"Miss?" a voice snapped Beca out of her haze. The only other person in the room, a pretty blond receptionist (Holy shit her teeth are white. Wonder what type of toothpaste she used. Damn it, focus Beca!) was looking expectantly at Beca.

"Oh, right," Beca stuttered slightly. "Manny called for me." The receptionist nodded once and started tapping something out on the keyboard.

She apparently found what she was looking for because she looked at Beca with a small smile as she asked, "Beca Mitchell?"

"Yeah," Beca breathed in relief. "That's me."

"Alright honey," the receptionist smiled sweetly at Beca. She'd clearly seen her fair share of hopeful artists and producers traipse through her lobby. "Head on up to the sixth floor and Manny's office is the fourth door on the right. Just knock and he should be in there. You might have to bang on the door pretty hard, he tends to crank the music up and lose himself in it. Good luck." She smiled again and Beca gave her a nervous little quirk of her lips in return.

"Thanks," Beca said softly and then she was on her way up. She took a deep breath and bypassed the elevator, opting instead to traipse up six flights of stairs and give herself more time to process. As the floors passed, her nervous energy fell. She no longer felt that nervous twisting and clenching in her stomach and she had to admit, she was incredibly grateful that that was over. She didn't handle nerves well apparently. Noted and filed away for further musings. But now, now, she was filled with a different sense of calm. A sort of sharp perception that she sort of assumed only came with a violent raise in adrenaline and a sudden dropping of inhibitions.

She stepped up the last few steps and exited the stairwell onto the sixth floor. She looked around, verifying that she was in fact on the right floor, and then slowly, and she meant SLOWLY, walked down the sixth floor hallway. She finally stopped in front of the fourth door on the right. From inside the office, Manny's office, there was a deep bass that thumped the floors. Beca rapped three times on the door and stood rocking awkwardly on her heels, waiting for the door to be answered. When no one came, the nervousness from earlier reared its ugly head and Beca could feel the pit in her stomach starting to grow. Swallowing down the feeling, she remembered the secretary's words. And she could definitely feel the ground shaking all the way out here; it must be pumped up to some pretty incredible volumes on the inside.

With all the strength she could muster (which is actually quite a lot. She did knock out a guy with a single punch once) she pounded three times on the door. There was yet another moment of nothing changing and suddenly the door was yanked open. Beca found herself face-to-chin with a rather portly Hispanic man. The drastic change of scenery had Beca blinking in shock for more than just a few times, her head spinning in confusion.

"WHY HELLO!" the man shrieked into Beca's face, waving his hands wildly above his head.

"Uh… hi?" Beca said uncertainly. She wasn't quite sure how to deal with this man. "Manny?"

"YEAH! THAT'S ME! ARE YOU BECA?"

"Um… yes?"

"GREAT! I'M MANNY!"

"No kidding," Beca muttered, her eyes still slightly wide as she tried to take in all that is the afro man in front of her. Manny was shorter than she expected. He couldn't possibly have been taller than five foot seven but his afro stretched to at least six foot three. His hair was the size of at least two basketballs melded together in a mass of brown curly hair. Huh. If you looked at it from the right angle, it kind of looked like it was eating his head. Manny also had massive brown eyes that gave Beca the distinct impression of an over-excited puppy dog and massive cheeks.

While Beca was contemplating the implications on whether Manny's hair was a sentient being and could actually EAT his head, Manny's mouth was running a mile a minute. "And there's this place just downtown that you absolutely HAVE to go to. In fact, we should probably just go there for lunch. Do you eat meat? You're not one of those freaky vegan chicks 'cause meat is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Unless you don't eat it then I'm sorry for insulting your religion. Anyway-"

"Eh Manny," Beca cut the man off, a little in awe of the fact that the man didn't breathe one damn time that entire freaking schpeal. "When do I play my stuff for your boss?"

"What? Why would you do that?" Manny asked, confusion written all across his face.

"Oh," Beca said, her words broken and dejected. She hadn't realized that she'd already been denied by TurnStyles and that she'd basically been flown out here to be dumped before she'd even had her shot. Manny, whose motor mouth was finally still, at least for a little bit, noticed Beca's odd tone.

"Chicka?" he asked carefully, his open and slightly chubby face radiating nothing but concern. "Are you alright?" That soft and simple question seemed to snap Beca out of her slump and suddenly her walls flew back up higher than ever.

In a guarded and slightly cold voice she said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll just be seeing myself out then."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Manny all but yelped. He leapt in front of her in a surprisingly dexterous move for a squat man with a 'fro. Which, by the way, was giggling and shaking like a Jello cup in an earthquake. "Where are you going?" Manny asked, his tone even more hurt and dejected than Beca's had been.

"Well you said earlier that I had to impress your boss and then I would get the contract with you guys. And just now you said I'm not playing anything for them now… so…" Beca trailed off with an awkward shrug of her shoulders. Manny still looked confused for a moment before he suddenly burst out laughing, his rotund belly jiggling with every giggle. Beca now looked less hurt and more insulted.

"Chicka," Manny finally managed to snort out between chuckles. "Chicka, chicka, chicka. I was right, you are a riot."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Beca snapped exasperatedly.

"You're already in," Manny replied simply. With that simple sentence, all of Beca's motor functions shut down.

"I'm sorry, what?" she managed to croak.

Manny's eyes were still crinkled from laughing as he said, "Yeah, yeah I already presented your stuff to the boss man upstairs and he loved it. He said he wants you no matter what. Do you really think that we'd fly you all the way out here and then dump you on your ass?" Beca's silence more than answered Manny's question. "My god, no one is that heartless. Sheesh! I'm insulted," despite his words, Manny still had a shit eating grin on his face.

Beca found herself grinning crookedly back. "So," she cleared her throat awkwardly, embarrassed at her little outburst from earlier. "Where's that place you said we simply had to go for lunch?" Manny's grin got even wider and he held out his hand to Beca. She grasped his hand in her own, assuming it was going to be a handshake. She was, therefore, completely unprepared to be yanked into a surprise hug by the portly man and all but hefted into the air.

"This is going to be amazing!" Manny squealed in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "Now let's go. This place has the most amazing Philly Cheesesteaks and steak fries outside of Philadelphia. Let's get some meat on those bones pipsqueak! While we're out, we can talk details about your contract."

"But first food?" Beca asked knowingly, wheezing ever so slightly from the bruising her ribs just took.

Manny's grin made another appearance and he agreed, "First food." Manny twisted his grip that was still wrapped tightly around the small woman's hand and tugged her after him as he all but bounded out of his office. Yup. Definitely an over-excited puppy.

* * *

><p>"Oh my fucking god, this is fabulous," Beca all but moaned through a mouthful of Philly cheesesteak, her eyes closed in absolute bliss. Manny popped a handful of fries into his mouth and hummed in agreement.<p>

When he'd finally swallowed, he said in a melodramatic voice, "I concur my dear Watson. Now you wanna talk details about your contract?"

"Really?" Beca asked incredulously as she daintily wiped her mouth with a napkin. "You want to talk business over cheesesteaks and Mountain Dew?"

"Can you think of anywhere better?" Manny asked with a snort as he sipped his own Mountain Dew pensively.

Beca chewed on a fry and finally admitted, "No, not really." Manny's face split into a grin. "And don't you forget it half-pint. First thing you should know about me, it's not business if it doesn't involve food. And seeing as we've clearly fulfilled the food requirement, it's now time for the business."

Beca wiped her hands on her napkin and looked at Manny apprehensively. "What exactly does that entail?"

"Well," Manny said dramatically, yanking a stack of papers from his bag. "You look over at this contact, grace its presence with your signature, and then we get milkshakes."

"Milkshakes, right," Beca said with a nod and a smirk. "Out of curiosity, do you often carry around contracts in your purse?"

"Purse? It's a satchel," Manny gasped indignantly.

Beca chuckled and said smartly, "It's a purse. Now hand over the contract Manny." Manny pouted slightly, his arms crossed across his chest but he handed the contract over anyway. He watched with an almost nervous look as Beca read over each and every page. Every now and then, she'd look up a term or phrase on her phone, but other than that, she was silent. Ten minutes passed this way, Manny looking on anxiously and Beca reading carefully. Finally, she leant back in the booth and regarded Manny with unreadable dark blue eyes.

Manny looked at her hopefully, his brown eyes sparkling and twinkling with barely contained anticipation. "Well?" Beca took a careful and deliberate sip of her Mountain Dew.

"It looks good," she finally said with a smirk.

"Yes!" Manny exclaimed, his hands thrown victoriously in the air. "Waiter! We require two celebratory milkshakes! One chocolate and one strawberry!"

Beca just smirked and shook her head at the afro-man. "You're crazy, you know that man?"

"Just crazy enough to work with someone like you half-pint," Manny said with a near giddy grin. "Now all that's left is for you to sign the contract and you and I are business like nobody else."

"Don't you think I should get a lawyer to look at this?" Beca asked, honestly wanting Manny's answer. She'd never signed a legally binding work contract with, well, anyone and she had no idea how something like this would work.

"Nah, you'll be fine," Manny said sympathetically and with a knowing smile. He'd seen more than his fair share of nervous artist and producer to-be's and he knew how to handle them. "There's a clause right there," Manny flipped through a few sheets and pointed to the fourth paragraph. "It says that at any point you can retain a lawyer and make any changes to your contract that you see fit. It's not our job to make your life difficult. We just want to help you make music and share it with as many people as possible."

"Okay," Beca let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. She really didn't know what the hell she was doing and while she knew she probably needed a lawyer, she didn't know anyone that could even begin to help her.

"Trust me Beca Mitchell," Manny said, his voice as serious as Beca had ever heard it. "We're not going to screw you over. I promise." Beca nodded uncertainly once again. Manny grinned widely at her and handed her a pen. Beca held it loosely in her left hand, twirling it uncertainly. "You can back out and cancel the contract at any time Beca," Manny repeated the words written in bold on the very first page of the contract.

"Alright," Beca nodded and scribbled her name on the line. "This isn't going to fuck me over is it?"

"Careful pipsqueak," Manny said with an over-exaggerated eyebrow wiggle. He nodded his thanks to the waiter who slid two milkshakes onto the table with a disapproving glare at Beca. "Families come here. Don't you start corrupting the youth of our nation until after I make you the next hottest thing," Manny finished off his statement with yet another eye wiggle and Beca responded with an eye roll. He took a quick sip of his strawberry milkshake while watching Beca tentatively take a sip of her chocolate milkshake. She nodded appreciatively while keeping her eyes warily on the man opposite her.

"So here's how this is going to work pipsqueak," Manny said with a grin as he sipped dramatically at his milkshake. "I work mainly in recruitment. There are basically three tiers of artists at TSR. Level 1 is the head honchos, your Ushers, your Miranda Lamberts, and your Maroon 5 type people. Level 2 is the well known throughout LA, usually working in the clubs and whatnot. Level 3 is the newbies trying to break into the business. You, my dear, are entering at a low Level 2 position which means you're going to rake in about $70,000 a year, depending entirely on how many shows you take. The more shows you perform at, the more money you get through us and through the clubs themselves and the more publicity you'll receive. It's basically a win-win. You already know that you get to stay in an apartment set up by us and you can stay in it for up to two years. You've essentially got six months to make your mark. We'll help you get gigs for that first month, you know show you the ropes and whatnot, but after that it's on you. You have to make your own contacts and start moving out of the TSR sponsored clubs so that we can move in new artists. If, at the end of a year, you haven't shown any signs or potential for growth, we'll sit down and review all this, okay?"

Beca's head was spinning but she nodded mutely. Manny smiled sympathetically at Beca's stunned look. "I'll send you an email with all this so you have it on hand, okay?" Beca nodded gratefully and sucked down some of her own milkshake. Twenty minutes of explaining just a few more details of the contract and drinking milkshakes later, and Beca and Manny were heading back out into the bright LA sunshine.

"So pipsqueak," Manny said with an impish grin that only got wider as Beca practically bristled at the nickname. "You ready to hit the ground running back at the mad house?" Beca took a deep breath, her eyes closed. When they snapped open, Manny was taken aback. Her usually impassive and unreadable navy eyes were flashing and glinting in determination.

"You know it."

_Baby I'd give you my world  
>Open up<br>Everything's waiting for you  
>You can go your own way<br>Go your own way  
>You can call it<br>Another lonely day  
>You can go your own way<br>Go your own way_

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts? Good? Bad? Meh? ... Bueller?<strong>

**I've actually got like the next five chapters planned out, which is shocking as shit to someone like myself. Usually I just wing it. Next Chapter, without too much doubt, will be the Bellas' reactions. Updates will still continue on Friday's probably like in the mornings or what not.**

**AND WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REACHED 50 REVIEWS! WHEEEEE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Anna Kendrick's ****_Cups_****.**

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><p>Nearly three weeks had passed since the Bellas had last seen Beca, any of them, though no one brought it up. And after yesterday's fiasco of a rehearsal that ended with vomit and harsh accusations, they were sure that they'd get a text from Aubrey saying that Beca was back in. However, a day passed and nothing. Deciding that their captain had been confronted enough, all of the girls decided to let her muddle through it on her own. However, they soon all began to notice the distinctive lack of Beca in all of their lives.<p>

* * *

><p>Cynthia Rose was worried. The biggest test of the English semester had passed and she hadn't heard a damn peep out of Beca. While to anyone else that wasn't unusual, it was to Cynthia Rose. Both girls had Dr. Garber for English and Composition, Cynthia Rose's class meeting on Thursday and Beca's on Friday. Before Beca's class met to take a big, important test, Cynthia Rose would get a frantic text from Beca begging for help.<p>

The two Bellas would up camped out in the library with Red Bull and an ungodly amount of flashcards. And Cynthia Rose could honestly tell you that she enjoyed their late night study sessions. Sometime around three hours into cramming about authors and plots and characters, Beca would get slap happy. She'd start humming along to any song that popped into her brain and Cynthia Rose would try and guess what it was.

However, the biggest test of the semester, counting for at least 15% of their grade, had come and gone. Not a peep out of Beca. No library. No Red Bull. And no humming. Beca actually had a fairly good grasp on English and all its intricate nuances, but she adamantly refused to read any of the required books, which caused more than a few complications. Therefore, there was no way in hell Beca had read seven three hundred page books and prepared for a test in the past week.

So what the hell happened?

* * *

><p>Fat Amy was fabulous. Fat Amy was confident beyond all get out. Fat Amy was so bored she was soon going to start belting out show tunes. Full on Hairspray up in this lecture hall bitch.<p>

Somewhere a good forty rows of uncomfortable college lecture hall seats in front was an uptight, pencil skirt wearing stick in the sand professor that made Aubrey look like she was headed to Woodstock. While having an uptight professor was bad at the best of times, add in the fact she was teaching Integral Calculus with a monotone, she had half the class asleep and the other half contemplating psychotic rage. Fat Amy was firmly in the psychotic rage half. She was planning on releasing the kraken. Everyone back home in Tasmania had family krakens; she could probably just borrow someone's.

For the past ten minutes, however, Amy's attention was drawn away from what was probably borderline homicide. Instead, she opted on focusing on the empty chair beside her. While normally Fat Amy wasn't bothered by an empty seat, some people just couldn't handle all her sexiness, it was more along the lines of who should have been there.

It'd been three weeks since that tattooed twig bitch Mitchell had shown up. At first, Amy had just assumed that Beca was just bailing on the math class. Lord knows the girl had complained nonstop about being forced into it by her father. But after a week of not showing, her longest hooky record having been three days before she dragged her flat ass back into the hall, Fat Amy started thinking it was something else. It probably had something to do with avoiding the hell out of Fat Amy.

After the semi's, Fat Amy hadn't seen Beca. Not in the cafeteria, not in the coffee shop, not in the Calculus class, not even under her favorite tree. Three weeks was a very long time to skip class and avoid a friend. At least Amy thought she was Beca's friend. Sure, she hadn't exactly been supportive at the semis, but she'd certainly not condemned her like Aubrey had. That had to count for something, right?

Fat Amy was brought out of her musings by the teacher's droning's shifting into a higher pitch about non-differentiable functions. Huh. Apparently THAT was what got the old bat excited. Who knew?

* * *

><p>Denise Martin loved her Intro to Philosophy class. She loved the way the questions made her think of everything in a different way and the challenge it gave to her. The fact that one of her fellow Bellas was also in the class was a delightful bonus. She and Ashley had quickly become thick as thieves, between having three classes together, the near-nonstop Bellas rehearsals and the fact that they were in the same dorm building; they really didn't have an option otherwise.<p>

For the first several weeks of Philosophy 101, the professor merely stood in front of the class, lecturing nonstop. Denise's hand had cramped up painfully trying to keep up with all the definitions. And finally after three weeks, they got to the good questions. The soul searching questions. The questions that made them all think and pause. And Denise loved every second of it. What shocked her most came during the second month of the class.

_Flashback _

_She and Ashley walked into the class buzzing in excitement after their recent induction into the Barden Bellas. Talking animatedly, they walked over to their standard seats, smack dab in the middle of the lecture hall. As they were about to sit down, they found out that someone had beaten them to it. Slumped over one of the desks on the right side of the hall was a somewhat disheveled looking brunette. She was wearing a grey sweatshirt and jeans but Denise couldn't see anything else about her. _

_"Uh… excuse me?" Denise asked politely. She'd never seen this girl in her class before and she was interested as to what she was doing. Maybe she was a transfer student… or maybe she was just lazy. The brunette girl didn't lift her head or give any other indication that she'd even heard a word out of Denise's mouth. "Hello? Heeeeellllllooooo?" A slight snore and shift and that was it. _

_Denise and Ashley exchanged a look and a shrug and situated themselves in the seats a few over from the sleeping girl. Soon more and students filtered in, all taking seats leaving an island of empty seats around the girl who blissfully slept on. At eight o'clock sharp, their professor walked in and slammed her book down on her desk. All the people who had been napping lightly in their seats as they waited for her to show up jumped up, awake and startled. Out of the corner of her eye, Denise saw the brunette still out cold. She had to admit, that was impressive. _

_The lesson went on and on the teacher asking a question about what the universe meant to everyone. The question had the whole class stunned into silence. What could the universe possible mean and how on earth were they supposed to know? As the whole class was silent as they pondered the discussion, there came a slight snore and all eyes in the room snapped to where the brunette girl was sleeping, blissfully unaware of all the attention now trained on her. _

_"Ms. Martin," their professor said coolly. "If you would be so kind to please wake up Ms. Mitchell." Mitchell. Huh? Where had Denise heard that name recently? Denise pondered that question as she reached over to give her classmate a firm shake on the shoulder. The girl didn't react. Denise frowned and pushed a little harder. Still nothing. With her eyes narrowed, Denise gave the girl's arm a quick pinch. Expecting her to snap awake and scream at her, Denise was entirely unprepared for the girl to lift her head up, give her a nod, and fall back to her folded arms. _

_"Hey!" Denise exclaimed and gave the girl another, longer and harder, pinch on the arm in an attempt to wake the girl up for good this time. This time the girl lifted her head up and propped it on her open faced palm which was resting on her desk. _

_She blinked twice, yawned widely, and drawled groggily, "Sup?" _

_"So nice of you to join us this morning Ms. Mitchell," the professor said drily. _

_"My pleasure," the girl said through a yawn. Denise was shocked that she recognized the girl. She was a part of the Bellas! She was that girl that sort of stood on the fringes and sort of seemed to be just observing the other girls. What was her name? Bella? No… Brianna? Nope… Oh, Beca! That was it, Beca Mitchell. Beca yawed widely yet again and looked sleepily at the professor, an eyebrow cocked haughtily. _

_"What can you tell us about your beliefs on the universe?" _

_"Well which universe?" Beca asked sleepily, rubbing lazily at an eye. The professor seemed taken aback and it showed visibly on her face. Beca, noticing the teacher's confusion continued, "Yeah, there's the multiple universe theory. There is an infinite number of us's in an infinite number of universes. So maybe what's true in one universe isn't necessarily true in another universe." _

_The professor looked mildly intrigued and she asked, "Well what's your theory on this universe?" Beca seemed to deliberate and for a moment Denise was afraid that she'd fallen back asleep. That theory was shot to hell when Beca's voice cut through the lecture hall. _

_"I kind of like the egg theory." _

_"The what?" the professor's eyebrows drew together in bafflement. _

_Beca shifted slightly, seemingly oblivious to the rapt attention the entire hall was paying her as she explained, "The egg theory is sort of convoluted to explain without reading the whole thing. Basically there is only one person and that one person is everybody. Everyone who has ever lived and died and anyone who will ever live and die. Each time one life or reincarnation ends, they are reborn into their next stream of consciousness until they've lived every life there is to live and learned all there is to learn. Because right now everyone, or the one person who is everyone, is still a fetus, still growing, you know? And when we're done, we'll have grown enough to be born. So this entire universe is nothing more than an egg for us to mature in." _

_The entire lecture hall was dead silent and Beca nodded once before resting her head back on the desk, once again oblivious to the shock she'd brought to the whole classroom. _

_End Flashback_

Denise smiled at Ashley as she threw her bag on the ground in front of a desk. She looked down the row where Beca had a habit of collapsing into the desk and sleeping nonstop interrupted only by the occasional interlude of surprising insight. It was still empty. It had been three weeks.

Denise didn't know if she should be concerned that somebody had killed Beca and/or was holding her hostage in their basement. However, Denise felt like that probably, PROBABLY would have shown up on the news, at least a little. Ah well. It had taken the girl nearly a month and a half to actually show up to class on time. Consistency and punctuality didn't seem to be Beca's strong suit. Denise was sure nothing was wrong, and Ashley agreed, so all was good. Probably.

* * *

><p>Jessica Roland walked down the second floor hallway of Seton Hallway, her backpack slung over her shoulder, her slightly dirty Bellas' scarf still knotted around the handle. She couldn't bear to untie it, even to wash it. She liked the constant reminder of one of the first groups of girls to ever feel like family. She paused outside of room 227 and felt like groaning and slamming her head on the doorway, for tied to the door handle was a sock.<p>

Jessica took a quick glance down at her watch and felt like screaming in frustration. It was only 2:30 for Pete's sake. Who on earth was getting it on at 2:30 on a Tuesday? Mother fucker. With a dramatic sigh, Jessica readjusted her backpack on her shoulders and turned around to walk back the way she came.

She plodded down the stairs, smiling tightly at her RA as she passed her, and strode out to the quad. When the weather was nice, and Barden was in Georgia so the weather was usually pretty damn nice, she'd sit out underneath a tree and work on whatever homework she could while she waited for her rather… active roommate to be finished with her own version of extracurricular activities. As Jessica put the finished touches on a Chemistry write up, she looked around the quad. Off to the side was the Running in Circles Club and just beyond that, the Quiddich team was running around on their broomsticks. All in all, nothing out of the ordinary.

What was odd was the tree opposite Jessica's. Usually, there was a somewhat dark woman underneath it, all plaid and dark eyeliner, with bulky headphones shutting her off from the rest of the world. Beca and Jessica weren't friends per se, they were more of just two girls who happened to be in the same a cappella group and who sat under neighboring trees.

Although, now that Jessica thought about it, it had been a while since she'd seen Beca out in the quad. And Jessica had been outside nearly every day thanks to her roommate. The girl made Stacie look like a nun. Jessica shot one more look at Beca's empty spot and decided to head over to the campus coffee store. Maybe that would get the nagging in her mind to shut up.

* * *

><p>Stacie Conrad was very comfortable in her body, a fact that half of the sophomore and three-fourths of the junior class at Barden University could attest to. And while Stacie was incredibly confident in her own body, she positively loved messing with her friends that weren't. She didn't do it in a mean way, just more as a teasing than malicious one. And lately her favorite target was Beca Mitchell. There was just something about making the usually stoic and well put together alt-girl blush right down to the tips of her ears that Stacie just couldn't get enough of.<p>

However, Beca wasn't an easy nut to crack. Usually all it took was a well-placed innuendo or a dramatic wink to have her target turn cherry red and sputter. But Beca didn't take Stacie's flirting hands down. She could usually respond with a smirk and some snark of her own.

It had started two weeks after Aca-Initiation, Stacie had been enjoying a healthy breakfast in the Dining Hall after a rousing bout of cardio. Hey, you don't get an ass this perfect without a little bit of effort every now and then. As Stacie had stalked through the rows of tables with her yogurt and fruit cup, she'd passed by a table where a lone figure sat hunched over what appeared to be a bowl of fruit and a plate of bacon. With an almost innocent grin (innocent for a jungle cat at least) Stacie made her way over to the figure. Completely bypassing the three empty chairs on either side of the girl and the row opposite her, Stacie plopped down in the figure's lap. The girl, who hadn't seen or heard Stacie approach on account of the thick set of headphones wrapped around her head, started. However, Stacie was disappointed. Aside from a slight jump, the only reaction she got was an incredulous glare from the dark-clad girl.

"Can I help you?" Beca asked snarkily.

"Babe, you can help me with a lot," Stacie said with an over-exaggerated wink.

"Sorry babe," Beca responded with an eye roll and a smirk. "I like my toys to come with manageable airbags." Stacie gave a slight gasp and placed a somewhat delicate hand on aforementioned airbags.

"That was just hurtful munchkin." Beca glared slightly and tried to shift. Fortunately Stacie took the hint and slid into the seat next to Beca. They spent the next half an hour before Bellas' practice talking about classes and music. Stacie was surprised that Beca's head was pretty much all music from all genres. Everything from Duke Ellington to LMFAO.

But presently, it had been three weeks since Stacie had last seen her favorite punchkin (a coin termed by both Amy and Stacie). The first week, Stacie had eaten at the North Side Dining Hall as an excuse to avoid Beca. However, after that she had all but forgiven the girl. So she switched the set list? It's not like it was the end of the world. Beca had taken a risk, yeah, but it sounded awesome. So Stacie was done. It's not like she was good at holding a grudge that didn't involve doing the nasty anyway. But Beca hadn't shown up. Stacie assumed that Beca had done the same thing she had for more or less the same reasons so she wasn't worried.

But time had started passing and Stacie had to admit, she was starting to get annoyed. Worried too, but mostly just annoyed. Stacie threw her tray out and stalked off towards the English building for her next class. Later on today when she actually had free time, she was going to drag that little shrimp out of wherever in her dorm room she had undoubtedly holed herself up in and make her party until the sun came up.

* * *

><p>Lily knew that she was quiet. She also knew that if she so desired, she could speak up louder. She just didn't want to, so that was that. Lily also knew that Beca lived down the hall of Baker Hall. She didn't think that Beca knew that it was to the silent Asian girl's room that Beca's own roommate, Kimmy Jin, often disappeared to. She didn't think Beca particularly cared.<p>

Lily liked Beca; though she was fairly sure the alt-girl had no idea of that. Beca seemed to be the only one in the Bellas, hell in Barden, who could actually hear nearly everything that Lily said. And true, she looked slightly disturbed and often backed away, at least she made an effort to hear the soft-spoken Asian.

Lily also knew that Beca hadn't been in her dorm for the past three weeks. She could've told someone, but she felt that wasn't really her place. It's not like anyone would hear her anyway.

* * *

><p>Chloe heaved a sigh and nervously started nibbling on her bottom lip. She had been standing uncertainly in front of Beca's dorm room for the past twenty minutes and she still had yet to pluck up enough courage to actually knock on the door.<p>

It had been three weeks since Chloe had seen or heard from the tiny brunette and Chloe was ready to admit that it was killing her. She missed Beca's dry and sarcastic wit. She missed seeing the freshman slumped over her computer underneath what nearly everyone who knew Beca as her tree. She missed running into Beca at the all night coffee shop and picking her brain for whatever mix just wasn't sitting right for the younger woman. She missed Beca, plain and simple.

However, she knew that Beca probably wasn't too keen on seeing anyone from the Bellas. Heaven knows she'd made her opinion well known at Semis. That was a night Chloe was going to regret for a very long time, at least in her mind. She should have said something, anything, to combat Aubrey's wrath when all Beca had done was try and help them. She'd been gathering her courage to say something back to Aubrey when she was looking down and she could still see the look of betrayal on Beca's face. Haunting was probably the only description that seemed close, and even that fell short of describing it.

So here Chloe was, staring nervously at a door with peeling paint. Right when Chloe was about to give up completely and head back to the recently very tense apartment she shared with Aubrey, she heard a voice behind her ask curiously, "Chloe?" Chloe spun around expectantly, both hoping and dreading that the voice belonged to the girl she'd been looking for. Her heart fell, however, when she saw a tall girl with short blond hair waving at her enthusiastically from down the hall.

"Hey Sam," Chloe greeted the girl half-heartedly as the sophomore in the Biology class she was a TA for came running up.

"What are you doing in a freshman dorm?" Sam asked with her head cocked to the side and a grin on her face.

Chloe smiled back, not her usual sun-matching smile but a smile nonetheless, and she replied, "Oh, one of our Bellas is in this room and we're trying to get ahold of her."

"This room?" Sam gestured to the door in question, Room 325.

"Yup," Chloe nodded, a little confused as to why Sam was so shocked.

"Huh," the blond girl said with a shrug. "Never would've guessed that Kimmy-Jin was a singer."

Now it was Chloe's turn to be confused. "Huh? No, the other girl, Beca Mitchell."

"Oh," Sam's eyes flew open wide in understanding and then they were furrowed yet again. "But she's not here anymore." Chloe felt like her heart had stopped beating and there was a sudden drop in her stomach.

"What?" she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yeah," Sam said slowly, concerned at the senior girl's reaction. "She's been gone for like three weeks. No one really knows where she went. One day all her shit was just gone and that was that. Twerp didn't even give notice or anything."

"You have no idea where she went?" Chloe asked fearfully.

Sam shook her head and said sympathetically, "No one does. Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Chloe said, her voice cracking. "Thanks Sam."

"Sure Chloe," Sam said, her gaze probing as she stared at Chloe. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Chloe's voice sounded small and far away, even to her. "I'm fine. I've got to go." Without another word, she brushed past Sam and all but flew out of Baker Hall, her phone already whipped out and in her hand. They were in trouble.

* * *

><p>Aubrey Posen. Even the name sounded imposing and slightly terrifying. Aubrey Posen didn't apologize because Aubrey Posen wasn't wrong. Ever. It just wasn't an option. It never had been. Now, now though, now Aubrey was staring desolately at her hands clasped together in her lap.<p>

She'd been sitting on the edge of her bed, mulling over what she knew she had to do and what she was loathing to do at the same time, for the past hour and a half. She had to apologize to Beca. Swallow her pride, and her vomit, and admit that she was wrong. About damn near everything. About Beca. About the set list. About Beca being a Bella. Hell, if she was forced to, she'd admit to being wrong about the damn ear monstrosities.

Aubrey pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. The name was right there. RIGHT there. Why couldn't she do this? Aubrey stared at her phone for a good five minutes before finally clenching her jaw and pressing the damn button to dial Beca's number. With her jaw still painfully clenched, she lifted the phone to her ear and waited with baited breath. Honestly at this point, she couldn't tell you which would be worse. Beca accepting her call and having to talk to her, or have Beca ignore her and know that she had to grovel at the freshman's feet. What Aubrey didn't know was that there was a third option.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to contact has been disconnected. Please redial and try again." Before Aubrey could even truly comprehend what was going on, her phone buzzed again. It was a text from Chloe.

_Emergency Meeting. Auditorium. NOW._

The serious and demanding tone conveyed through text had Aubrey immediately on edge. She was the hard-headed, grammatically correct half of the pair. Chloe's texts were usually riddled with LOL's and OMG's along with an emotocon or twelve. With Beca's disconnected phone number being pushed to the back of her mind, Aubrey strode out of the apartment she shared with her co-captain and headed towards the old auditorium on campus. Something was very, very wrong.

* * *

><p>The Bellas were all gathered nervously in the auditorium. While they may not know their redheaded co-captain as well as her best friend, even they could tell something was wrong from the text she sent all of them. It lacked, in Beca's words, Chloe's "never fucking ending optimism". Speaking of Beca, that's who they were waiting on, wasn't it? It had to be. They hoped it was. As the door swung open, the entire group turned as a whole to stare hopefully at whoever was entering. However, all of their hopes were dashed effectively when they saw that it was only Aubrey stalking across the floor.<p>

"What's wrong?" she asked, close to demanded actually, her eyes never leaving Chloe's face.

"Beca's gone," the other senior said bluntly. That simple sentence, those two little words, had the entire group freeze.

"What?" it was Fat Amy that recovered first. "Nah, the little ankle-biter isn't gone; she's just becoming a hermit in her room or whatever."

But Chloe shook her head and said, "I just went to her dorm, you know to apologize and beg to have her back. Apparently her room is empty. Her RA said she left three weeks ago."

"Three weeks?" one of the girls, Jessica maybe, asked in shock.

"I could have told you that," Lily whispered, but as usual she was ignored.

"How could she have been gone for three weeks?" Stacie asked loudly and incredulously. "I mean she wouldn't just up and leave in the middle of a semester would she?" No one in the group felt the need to dignify that with a response. Everyone here knew that Beca had absolutely no desire to be at Barden. While she never shared her dream of LA with any of the girls, it didn't take a genius to know that she would kill to get out of Georgia.

"Well…" Cynthia Rose drew her words out and choose them carefully. "Has anyone actually seen Beca since the semifinals because I know I haven't." All the girls looked around, desperately hoping for someone to step and say they saw her at her favorite coffee shop, or the library, or under her tree. No one did. And in one entirely eloquent statement, Aubrey Posen successfully summed up the entire mental state of the Barden Bellas.

"Fuck."

_When I'm gone  
>When I'm gone<br>You're gonna miss me when I'm gone  
>You're gonna miss me by my hair<br>You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh  
>You're gonna miss me when I'm gone<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Taa daa! Not quite sure I like this one or how it turned out, but hey. I updated, and with my longest chapter to date. Bonus!<strong>

**I've got the entire next chapter planned. Not written, but planned, so look forward to that. Right now it looks like my one update a week is still going to keep going strong, but if it ever gets too much, I might bump updates to every two weeks or something like that. So, as always, drop me a review with a yay or nay so far and what you want to see happen and I'll see if I can work it in.**

**Bye yas!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Shania Twain's ****_I'm Coming Over_**

* * *

><p>Two Years Later…<p>

Beca Mitchell took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had to admit, the air out here in Georgia was a lot easier on the lungs than the carcinogen infested smog that riddled LA's atmosphere. A combination of car fumes, pollution, and the weight of a city of crushed dreams and tears painted LA as a very different scene than what was portrayed in the movies. Oh well. It's not like Beca ever watched those movies anyway. Beca tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she made her way back into her father's house.

If you'd told her two years ago that she'd be back in Georgia and staying in her father's house, she would have blatantly laughed in your face.

Granted, it was only for a few days and in between a tour up and down some fabulous clubs of the East Coast and her return to LA and TurnStyle Records, but nonetheless, here she was in the very place she'd spent half of her childhood fighting like hell to get away from. Irony, Beca mused, was a bit of a bitch.

As Beca moved back into her father's surprisingly spacious house, she heard her two half-siblings shouting and screaming back and forth to each other. She was quickly reminded why exactly she'd left when two blurs nearly crashed into her, screeching the whole way.

"Paul! Hanna! Knock it off!" Annnnd there was the pops.

"Oh let them go Warren, they're just being kids." Cue delusional step-monster. Yeah… Beca couldn't wait to get back out to California where at least she could curse out all the people that got in her way.

Beca continued on into the kitchen, snagging a cup of coffee as she went and dodging her half-siblings once again. For there only being three of them, there always seemed to be at least one of them underfoot at all times. If it weren't so damn annoying, it'd actually be pretty impressive. As it was, Beca was extremely grateful that she was flying out tomorrow morning. Otherwise she'd probably be getting arrested very, very soon for child murdering.

Beca had spent the first four days out in Georgia staying and catching up with her mother. Then, on Christmas Eve she'd swapped houses and was spending the rest of her visit with her father. Beca hadn't spent Christmas (of frankly any holiday for that matter) with her dad ever since she was eight and he'd walked out of her life. It had been another five years until Beca had even heard from the man. While Beca and her mother had torn it up in New York for that first half-decade after the divorce, her father was busy starting over with his new wife. Imagine Beca's surprise when she was presented with not only a step-sister who was seven years old but also a half-brother who was four and a half-sister who was a year and a half old when she saw her dad for the first time in five years.

It was another year and a half before she'd even speak to him again. She could tell that her father had his new shiny family and didn't need her. But when Beca's mother got an amazing job offer that just couldn't be turned down that had the two of them packing up and relocating back to Georgia, she didn't have quite as many excuses not to see her father or her half-siblings anymore. She didn't let that deter her. Still doesn't, as a matter of fact.

"What're you thinking about?" a deep voice broke through Beca's reminiscing. Beca looked up coolly, no one back at TSR has heard of knocking so she's not even fazed by someone startling her anymore, and saw her father with his own cup of coffee. Beca shrugged and contemplated not even answering but that seemed rather counterproductive since their relationship was finally at a cordial enough place that she doesn't jump to her defenses in an instant and he longer calls her career a hobby.

"Just how we ended up here, you know?"

"In the kitchen?" Dr. Mitchell joked as he moved to pour a second cup of coffee and Beca rolled her eyes at her dorky father. "Any day in particular?"

"Not really," Beca admitted truthfully. Internally she couldn't help but marvel that all if took for her and her father to get on better terms was for her to move across the country. Who knew? The two Mitchells sat in silence as they listened to the muffled sounds of the TV in the living room. Beca Mitchell took this time to just reflect, an action always made easier when coffee was around.

Warren Mitchell took this time to appraise his daughter. She looked good. A lot better than Warren ever actually remembered her looking, at least in his presence. She'd eased off that forsaken eyeliner and had relaxed somewhat since he'd last seen her. Sure they'd talked on the phone, but mostly they ended up swapping pleasantries and conversations stayed centered about work. Dr. Mitchell could gladly say he had never been happier to be proven wrong then when his daughter found a way to make money doing what she loved. The fact that she actually made more money than Warren did as a tenured English professor when she was only twenty was just icing on the cake.

Beca was healthy, happy, successful, and loving life out in Los Angeles. Warren Mitchell couldn't ask for more for his baby girl. He'd probably never tell her that he still called her that in his head, it'd be awful for her so called 'badass' image, but it was true. Warren loved Hannah and Paul and he loved Taylor as if she was his own daughter. But he also loved Beca. He just had a hell of a harder time expressing it. It seemed to be a hereditary thing.

"Good morning," both the Mitchells nodded in greeting to Dr. Mitchell's wife as she came in and took Warren's proffered coffee mug. While Beca and Shelia would never be best friends, they could at least now stay in the same room without biting each other's heads off, a feat that made Dr. Mitchell's life a hell of a lot easier. "Do you have any plans today?" the blond professor directed the question at her estranged step daughter.

"Yeah," Beca nodded as she took an almost dainty sip of her drink. "Jesse came back in from Florida last night and I was planning on spending the day with him." Both Shelia and Warren nodded and requested that she send on their greetings to him, to which Beca agreed. A quick glance at the clock had Beca excusing herself and preparing to drive back into the mouth of the giant. College.

* * *

><p>Jesse Swanson was literally bouncing up and down in excitement. It had been too damn long since he'd seen one of his best friends and he honestly could not wait. When Jesse heard that Beca was back in town, even it if was just for a day, he had nearly shrieked in eagerness. It was a very manly shriek, though, so it was okay, no loss of man points there.<p>

When he saw the familiar name show up on his cell phone screen and Beca's voice telling him that she was outside his apartment building, he'd once again given his manly shriek. It was **so** very manly (don't let Benji tell you differently), thank you very much. Jesse had had to remind Benji on more than one occasion and still his roommate didn't believe him. Oh Benji, so little trust, so little time. Jesse's somewhat delusional internal musings were interrupted by a loud triple knock on the door that had the warped wood rattling on its hinges. Jesse grinned widely and flew across the floor to yank open the door. Standing there before him was a girl he'd missed immensely.

"Becaw!" he crowed joyously and moved to swamp the shorter girl into a lung-crushing hug.

Beca laughed as best she could seeing as her lung-capacity was currently being severely limited and she wheezed out, "Hey Jess! Didja miss me or something?" Jesse didn't dignify that with a response and just squeezed the mini DJ even tighter. "Oxygen, man," Beca coughed, only half joking.

Jesse gave her one last over-exaggerated squeeze before setting the pint size DJ on the ground to give her the 'I haven't seen your face in over six months' once over. Beca certainly hadn't changed a whole lot since Jesse had flown out to LA this past summer for an internship on a movie set.

Her brown hair still fell past her shoulders in lazy curls and she was wearing a grey beanie to ward off the nip in the air. She still wore the same dark eyeliner and the signature smirk, Jesse didn't know what he'd do if he ever saw her in anything else. Probably accuse her of being an imposter and call the police. However, Beca had decided to forgo her traditional plaid shirt and tank top and instead gone with a grey and purple striped sweater and a wrapped scarf underneath a leather jacket. Her skinny jeans were tucked into knee length high-heeled boots which brought her up to Jesse's eye level instead of her normal shoulder height.

"So what's up buttercup?" Jesse asked expectantly as he slipped into his jacket, his keys and wallet already in his pockets, and slammed the door behind him.

Beca's face twisted into a grimace at the god awful nickname and she said, "Not much. I just got signed to work a duet with Usher." Jesse's eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped open. "As in you and Usher singing together?" he asked, well more like sputtered.

Beca shook her head as she and Jesse walked over to her car, unlocking it as they went. "I'm producing this one, not recording. And I'm not even the main producer."

"But you're still getting paid to work on a track with Usher?" Jesse demanded eagerly and Beca nodded, a small grin working its way onto her face. "Becaw!" Jesse shouted, grabbing Beca for another hug, adding in a dramatic swing around for good measure. Beca laughed, the sound carefree and ringing, before hitting Jesse's arm slightly and demanded to be put back down on the ground. "This is amazing!"

"Yeah," Beca said with the grin still in place.

"How long have you been working on the production end of things?" Jesse asked curiously as he got into Beca's rental car. The last time he'd asked, all Beca would divulge was that she was on the payroll of one of the newest and most explosive recording corporations on the west coast as a club DJ.

Beca turned on the car and started pulling out of the parking lot of Jesse's apartment complex before she answered, "I met Sid at that party six months after I moved out to LA, so it's been like a year and a half in production?" Her nose scrunched up ever so slightly as she tried to quickly do the mental math.

"Wait, you met your boss at a party?"

"Sid's not my boss," Beca protested, her nose wrinkling again at the mere thought.

"Close enough," Jesse said with a flippant wave of his hand. "And stop avoiding the question."

Beca rolled her eyes but she answered anyway, "It was a corporate Fourth of July cookout, but the way that Manny parties, it may of well had been spring break down in Cabo."

"Have you spent spring break in Cabo to compare?" Jesse asked teasingly, but when Beca didn't answer, he got curious. "Have you?" Beca didn't answer; she merely let her face twist into a coy smirk. "Have you!"

"Anyway," Beca drew the word out tauntingly. "Sid and I pretty much hit it off and we stayed in touch after the party. Somehow he got word that I did all of my own stuff on my tracks and he all but forced me to work on a song after one of his other producers got pregnant and suddenly went into labor. It was fun, the song turned out well, and I've been working in production ever since."

"Unbelievable," Jesse breathed. "You're a producer and an artist at one of the most up-and-coming recording companies in the United States. You're doing double duty. You're double dipping." Beca merely laughed.

The two of them exchanged easy and light conversation as they drove in and through campus. Presently they pulled up to a small diner on the far outskirts of BU's campus that they used to frequent all the time as freshman seeing as it was just a five minute walk from the radio station. In fact, it was from here that Jesse had purchased practically never ending burgers for Luke the suspiciously British senior. Hopefully they'd get some privacy out here.

* * *

><p>In the corner booth, Lily looked up from the small lighter she was clicking on and off, the flame appearing and vanishing. Huh. Beca was back. Lily mumbled something that had anyone been listening would have them flinching and backing away slowly. As it was, Lily just returned to trying to set the laminated menus on fire without the restaurant staff catching her at it. Again.<p>

* * *

><p>"So how's life been out in LA?" Jesse asked as the waiter walked away, their orders having already been taken.<p>

"Eh, it's pretty good," Beca said off-handishly. Jesse didn't dignify that with a response, he just quirked his eyebrow in disbelief. Beca's smirk broke out into a full on grin and she said with conviction, "It's great Jess."

Jesse grinned again. "So when are you releasing your next single, you know your stuff, not someone else's?"

"Don't know," Beca said with a shrug as she sipped at her soda, much like she had done with Manny two years ago in a café in Los Angeles. "My last couple of singles have done pretty well but right now I just want to focus on getting back to the people, you know? I've been performing in more clubs all across the country and it feels good to remember how I got started."

"What are your songs called?" Jesse asked curiously as he took a hearty sip of his own drink. Beca was just about to find a way to redirect the question when the waitress came back and carelessly placed the two's orders in front of them. Jesse and Beca shared a look before wordlessly swapping entrees. The waitress rolled her eyes and snapped her gum before walking away.

Beca waited until the woman was a good distance away before turning her attention to the burger in front of her. She wasted absolutely no time in slathering her patty in ketchup and then the fries got the same treatment. As the two old friends tucked into some of the best burgers in Georgia, they sat in a comfortable silence.

It was quite some time before Jesse remembered that Beca had never actually answered his question. "So what did you say your last song was called?"

"I didn't," Beca mumbled sheepishly. "But the last one was 'You Look Better When I'm Drunk'." The sip of Sprite that Jesse was currently in the process of swallowing soon got sprayed all over Beca. She blinked several times, her lips pursed in agitation, and she slowly and deliberately wiped her face off with a napkin. Jesse coughed painfully several times and pounded on his chest multiple times in a vain effort to get the fluid from his lungs.

"Are you serious?" he was finally able to cough and hack out.

Beca rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, Jess. I'm serious. Why the hell would I lie to you?"

"I don't know! You get some sort of perverse joy in getting my hopes up only to crush them cruelly in about seven seconds?"

"Not quite Jesse," Beca said with a smirk. "Although I do enjoy watching you squirm."

"Well aren't you just a delight," Jesse said drily. "Wait, I thought 'You Look Better When I'm Drunk' was a CC Hale song?"

"Yup," Beca said softly.

"And you weren't just the producer on that or something?"

"Nope."

"So you sang CC Hale's newest hit song?"

"Yup."

"But she got all the credit?"

"Not quite…" There was a sort of stunned pause as Jesse slowly started putting all the pieces together.

"Beca, please tell you're not one of the newest, hottest artists that just released two Top 40 songs, who has an album due out in a month and a half, and recently won a Grammy."

"Okay. I am not one of the newest and hottest artists, I didn't just release two Top 40 songs, I don't have an album due out in a month and a half, and I didn't just win a Grammy."

"Beca did you just lie to me?"

"Through my teeth."

"Holy shit!" Jesse exclaimed loudly, completely ignoring all the looks that the diner's patrons and employees gave him. "Holy fucking shit!"

"Keep your voice down, would you?" Beca shushed the boy and looked around inconspicuously. Fortunately, the dirty looks had abated, and the two went back to being ignored.

"Holy fucking shit," Jesse whispered reverently. "I know a celebrity. I know a fucking a celebrity. You're a fucking celebrity!"

"Yes, yes, thank you," Beca said impatiently. "I wasn't aware."

Jesse at least had the decency to look bashful and he mumbled, "Sorry. I sort of lost my cool there for a second."

Beca snorted and shot back, "Can't lose what you didn't have."

"Ouch," Jesse winced. "Okay, I might have deserved that one."

"Might have?" Beca asked questioningly.

Jesse stuck out his tongue at her and acquiesced, "Alright, definitely. No need to get sassy about it." Beca rolled her eyes and the two went back to the easy and comfortable bickering, Jesse questioning Beca nonstop about CC Hale. Beca paid the bill without even batting an eye and refusing to let Jesse even look at the receipt. As they were leaving the restaurant, bumping shoulders and shooting insults and barbs at each other, they ran into a figure.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said sincerely.

"It's fine," Beca said quickly in an attempt to move all this along and leave before she was recognized. That plan was all but shot to hell when the girl's eyes lockd onto Jesse. The girl's slight blush when she saw Jesse and the glare she sent Beca's way hadn't escaped Beca's notice. It also hadn't escaped her gaze that Jesse stiffened slightly and shuffled awkwardly on his feet.

"Oh, hey Jesse!" the girl said brightly.

"Hey Marie," Jesse said, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

Beca smirked before touching Jesse's shoulder in as dainty a manner as possible. "Sweetie," she said in a sickeningly high-pitched voice. "We need to go or we're going to miss the movies."

"What?" Jesse was very, very confused. However, he saw Beca shoot him a wink from behind her dark-tinted aviators and he decided to hell with it. "Right, sorry dear," he shot back at her with a smirk of his own. The girl, Marie, watched the interaction with a crushed look on her face as Jesse and Beca walked away, arms interlocked with each other. When they got a sufficient enough distance away, Jesse dropped Beca's arm like it was made of hot iron.

"What the hell was that for?" he demanded angrily.

"You like her, right?" Beca asked pointedly, wiggling her eyebrows dramatically. Jesse blushed and shuffled his feet and Beca had her answer. "Well I was just helping out a friend."

"How?" Jesse asked incredulously. "Now she thinks I've got a girlfriend."

Beca quirked an eyebrow and sighed at Jesse's denseness. "She's in the Bellas, right?"

Jesse's eyes widened in surprise and he said, "Yeah, she is. How did you know?" Beca rolled her eyes.

"She was wearing a white sweatshirt with a giant, big-ass blue 'B' on the front. It doesn't exactly take a genius to put the clues together, Einstein."

Jesse shot her a glare and he asked, "Alright, so the girl I'm crushing on is in the Bellas. What does that matter if I'm now apparently dating you?"

"Well you and I are going to have a heart-wrenching break up today after the movies and you are going to the Bellas' Traditional Christmas Party and you are going to put on your very best kicked puppy look." Jesse was about to shoot back a haughty reply when he stopped and thought about it for a second. It was actually a pretty good plan. He really, really didn't want to say that out loud however, although judging by the look on Beca's face, she already knew.

"Shut up," Jesse grumbled and Beca smirked victoriously.

"Now let's go nerd," Beca said, tucking her hands easily into her pockets and walking away.

"Hey, wait up!" Jesse called out and he jogged after her, catching up quickly. "Do you think we could swing by the Science building? I've got to ask a professor a really quick question."

"Yeah, sure," Beca said with a shrug and the two started the walk across the quad, for once just walking in companionable silence. As they walked, they passed a surprisingly large number of students in the open-spaced quad. Beca didn't recognize any of them, though halfway through she stopped bothering to try and pick anyone out in the sea of unfamiliar faces. She just bobbed and weaved her way behind Jesse. As she was just ducking past an abnormally muscled boy whose biceps looked like someone had stuffed them with cantaloupes, she accidently brushed against another body.

"Sorry," Beca said swiftly, not bothering to turn her attention to the person she'd bumped into. She quickened her pace and soon caught up to Jesse and the two of them entered the Science Building.

* * *

><p>One of the freshman Bellas and self-proclaimed Mini-Stacie, Prada Jones, spun around on her heel, following the hottie that had bumped into her closely as she walked away. "Damn," she said appreciatively, her eyes fixed firmly on the girl's backside. "That is one hot piece of ass."<p>

"Keep it in your pants whore," Cynthia-Rose said with a laugh, her arm wrapped comfortably around her girlfriend's waist. Prada said nothing, just kept on staring and gave her lips a slight lick. Cynthia-Rose turned to catch a glimpse of the girl that Prada couldn't seem to take her eyes off and said, "But you are definitely right." The younger Bella gave the figure one last appreciative glance before hurrying off to catch up with the two older girls.

* * *

><p>Beca leaned comfortably against the wall outside the Biology professor's office, waiting as patiently as she could, though she'd been cramped up on the wall for twenty minutes. As she slouched and shifted, flicking through several emails that had popped up in her inbox, someone slid next to her. Beca looked up with a slightly quirked eyebrow, expecting to see Jesse with his shit-eating grin. Instead she came face to face with another, all together to familiar, girl.<p>

"Hey," she said in what Beca could describe as a sultry voice. As it was, Beca could only wonder when the hell Jesse was going to get done. Because she needed to be out of this building as of yesterday "What's your name?" the girl, however, was not to be deterred by Beca's silence.

Beca couldn't help but exhale in relief. Thank god she'd had the foresight to cover up as many of her distinctive features as she could. The long sleeved, distinctly not plaid shirt covered the tattoos on her forearms. The beanie covered up all of her ear piercings. Her aviator sunglasses which she was still wearing even in the dim lighting of the hallway covered her unique navy blue eyes. Unless someone knew exactly who they were looking for, they'd never connect Beca with… well… Beca.

Beca shot the girl a look and lied effortlessly, "Hayley. Why?"

The girl fluttered her eyelashes and said, "I like knowing the name of the prettiest girl in the room."

Beca quirked an eyebrow and pointed out drily, "You do realize we're in a hallway, right?"

"Fine, hottest in the hallway," the girl amended with a shrug. She shifted slightly and moved to stick her hand out for a handshake. "Stacie," she introduced herself when Beca cautiously gripped her hand.

"Riiiiight," Beca drew the word out and looked around awkwardly.

Fortunately, Jesse emerged from the office, shouting a jovial, "Thanks a lot Dr. Terwilliger!" over his shoulder. Beca straightened up quickly and shot Jesse a hepless look with a pointed glance backwards.

"Come on hon," Jesse said, immediately wrapping an arm around Beca's waist and pulling her flush against his side.

"Thanks," Beca breathed and let Jesse all but drag her away from the girl still standing defiantly in the hallway, blatantly staring at the two as they exited the building. As soon as they were outside, the two friends started cracking up, their sides heaving up and down in time with their laughter.

"Dude, she was eyeing you like a piece of meat!" Jesse exclaimed in between snickers.

Beca laughed along with him and said, "You're telling me. I was afraid I was going to need that rape whistle from freshman year." That started a whole new round of giggles and the few people passing by shot them odd looks that were promptly ignored.

"Now let's go!" Jesse proclaimed when he could breathe normally again, his hand thrown dramatically in the air.

Beca regarded her friend with a sort of amused exasperation as she asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

"It's movie night!" Jesse declared excitedly, and he grabbed a hold of Beca's arm before she could let go. He started dragging the much smaller girl behind him as he made his way back to where the car was parked.

"Wait, Jesse," Beca protested as she squirmed and wriggled in a vain attempt to get Jesse to let go of her. However, his grip was unyielding and she was left shouting, "Jesse!" as she was pulled across the quad.

* * *

><p>Fat Amy glanced up to see the captain of the Treblemakers dragging a smaller figure behind him via a strong grip on the girl's forearm. Huh. Odd. Amy hadn't pegged the Treble as a gang-banger. Should she stop him or say something. Eh… better not.<p>

"Flat butts," Fat Amy muttered with a bewildered shake of her head as she returned her attention to her newest boyfriend who was sobbing at her feet. Sheesh, the way these Americans sobbed you'd think they'd never been dumped before.

* * *

><p>"So when do you leave?" Jesse asked through a yawn as the end credits of Breakfast Club started scrolling. As he shifted on his couch (having an apartment instead of a dorm was SOOOOO nice), he couldn't help but draw parallels from when he and Beca were sitting on her cramped sofa bed over two years ago and he'd asked the same question.<p>

Beca stretched and yawned widely as she responded drowsily, "Tomorrow, flight leaves at five in the morning."

"Why the hell is it that early?"

Beca cracked a smirk at that and explained, "I want to get back to LA as soon as possible. If I sleep on the plane tomorrow, I can still get back in time to put in a couple hours at the studio."

"Ew, work," Jesse comically wrinkled his nose and flopped on a pillow. Beca rolled her eyes and stood up to leave.

Jesse groaned at the prospect of moving, but nonetheless stood up stiffly to wrap Beca up in yet another hug. "Have a safe flight, call me when the chaos starts up, and get me a signed picture of Usher, would you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Beca mumbled into Jesse's shoulder as she gave him a quick squeeze. "Now let me go."

Jesse released his grip on Beca's shoulders and walked her to the door. As she was about to leave, Beca suddenly turned around and asked, "Are you still thinking about trying to get out to LA after school?"

"Yeah," Jesse responded despite his confusion at the change in conversion. "But I don't know if it's going to happen. Trying to find housing and shit out there is just a pain in the ass."

That must've been the answer Beca was looking for because she smirked mischievously. "You know I've got a spare room right?"

Jesse brightened up, immediately picking up what his friend was hinting at. "Are you serious?" he demanded. "I thought you were still in the TSR sponsored housing."

Beca shook her head and admitted, "I moved out of that apartment almost a year ago Jess."

Jesse's mouth spread into a wide grin and he said cockily, "So you wanna be my roomie?"

"Technically wouldn't you be MY roomie?"

"Shush."

Beca laughed and said, "Yeah, sure. I mean it makes sense. You need a place to stay until you get up on your feet and I've got the space."

"Becs you are literally the best person in the world."

Beca shrugged and said, "Well I do try. I'll email with you details later if you want."

"Yes," Jesse's head was nodding up and down so fast that Beca was shocked he didn't give himself whiplash. "God yes."

"Alright then," Beca said with a chuckle. "I'll see you later then dork."

"Bye nerd," Jesse shot back and the two parted ways, Beca heading back to her father's house to pack and then drive up to the airport in the wee hours of the morning and Jesse to do a paper that he'd procrastinated horribly on. None to surprisingly, both were looking forward to a year and a half from now.

_Get a life – get a grip  
>Get away somewhere, take a trip<br>Take a break – take control  
>Take advice from someone you know<br>Come on over – come on in  
>Pull up a seat – take a load off your feet<br>Come on over – come on in  
>You can unwind – take a load off your mind<em>

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, that just happened. We're finally starting to gain some traction now, speeding up a little bit. Are you all excited, 'cause next chapter we're gonna have some fun shit going down.<strong>

**On a side note, I didn't forget the letter Beca wrote the Bellas. That'll resurface later.**

**Goal for you all, 90 reviews total. Okay. GO!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect and I don't own Hinder's ****_Lips of an Angel_**

* * *

><p><em>Five Years Later<em>

In a small apartment in Chicago, the morning sun filtered in through slightly parted curtains and shone down on the occupant of the apartment. Chloe Beale shifted and cracked her eyes open. She grinned brightly and in seconds she was up and out of bed. Chloe all but skipped out of her bedroom and into the bathroom to get started for the day. As she passed by her Irish Setter, Bentley, she paused for a second to give him a vigorous ear scratching.

"Hey buddy," she cooed. "I'm sorry we're not going to have time for our walk today." Bentley seemed to understand that he wasn't getting his five mile morning run and he was going to spend the next however long it took to voice his displeasure. Loudly. "Oh shush Bent," Chloe chided the dog gently as she hopped into the shower. As the water cascaded down, she took the moment to relax and just enjoy whatever stress free time she got.

Chloe was all set to start her first year of residency at Chicago General in a couple of weeks and this vacation she was about to embark on was going to be her last chance to relax in a very long time. Chloe didn't regret any of it though. Not the four years at Barden and four more years at the University of Chicago and not the estimated five years of residency to come. It was the life she had chosen and she was going to see it through till the end. That didn't mean that she didn't have regrets. Nope, Chloe had carried around a handful of those from time to time and some of them had stuck around for just a little bit longer than others. With a shake of her head that had her red hair smacking at her face and water droplets flinging all across the tiled walls, Chloe did her very best to banish the dark memories plaguing her mind.

She sighed dramatically and ran her hands through her soaking wet hair. This shower session, which was supposed to be relaxing her, was instead bringing up unbidden memories and stressing her out. So much for that theory. Giving up on the rest of her shower, Chloe shut off the water and started toweling herself dry. As she wrapped the towel underneath her armpits, she heard her cellphone start ringing from her bedside table. Chloe made a mad dash, scurrying out of the bathroom and all but vaulting over Bentley in her scramble. She dove wildly across the bed, her legs getting twisted up in the sheets as she went, and managed to scoop up her phone and answer it in the same motion.

"Hello?" she asked breathlessly in the receiver.

"Chloe?" she heard Aubrey answer. "Are you alright?"

Chloe moved to sit up and untangle herself, shifting the phone to wedge it between her ear and her shoulder as she responded easily, "Yeah Bree, I'm fine. I was just in the shower and didn't want to miss your call."

"Oh, right," Aubrey's tone was still just as clipped and formal as it was all throughout high school and their undergrad. Going to law school hadn't really done anything to help her best friend loosen up and enjoy life more but she did get the stress vomiting under control, so that was a major plus. "I was just calling to make sure that-"

"That I'm on a plane and out to LA by tomorrow. I got it Bree, I got it. My flight leaves in three hours and I'm leaving my house in about thirty minutes. Relax, okay?" Chloe cut her friend off with a sigh. This was the third time this week that Aubrey had given Chloe the same lecture and Chloe was fairly confident she could rattle it back to her, both sides of the conversation.

Chloe heard a soft exhale from the other end of the line and a much gentler voice asked, "Is everything okay Chlo?"

"Yeah Bree, I'm fine," Chloe trailed off. "I just really, really need this vacation."

There was a pause and then, "You haven't gotten laid yet have you?"

"Noooo," Chloe drew the word out and flopped back dramatically on her bed. "And it's been forever! I'm going crazy in here."

"From what I understand, you're going crazy down there," Aubrey shot back cheekily.

"Oh shut up," Chloe mumbled, but with no real malicious intent behind her words.

"No I'm serious," Aubrey said back, a lilting tone telling Chloe she was laughing, or at the very least smiling. "When's the last time you got yourself some?"

Chloe groaned and admitted sheepishly, "Four months." The bark of laughter on the other end made Chloe wish that she'd lied to Aubrey, not that her best friend of almost ten years wouldn't have been able to tell.

"That long Chloe? Are you going celibate or something?"

"I'm hanging up on you now," Chloe informed the lawyer on the other end drily.

"I'll see you later Chloe," Aubrey said with a chuckle and the line went dead. Chloe rolled her eyes and let the hand holding the cellphone drop onto the bed next to her. Chloe lay there for a bit, just thinking about things.

It was true, she hadn't had any fun in the past four months, but it went farther back than that. She hadn't even had a drunken late night bar run with anyone in over a month and it had been a solid two years since she'd had any semblance of a relationship. Not even a significant relationship, just a relationship in general. Ever since she broke it off with her girlfriend of a year and a half, Janet, Chloe had been in an emotional rut. A really long, really dry, really unsatisfying rut. It had taken Chloe five minutes of hardcore brooding before she remembered that while her dry spell was certainly concerning, it wasn't the most pressing matter at hand. She had a plane to catch.

Fortunately, living as Aubrey's roommate for three years had definitely rubbed off on the redhead and she'd had her bag packed and waiting by the door since yesterday morning. Chloe moved about her apartment, throwing on clothes as she went, making sure that everything was in order, turning off the lights and the air conditioner behind her.

"Come on baby," Chloe murmured to the over-exuberant dog who was practically a living extension of her own personality. Bentley gave a few excited yips and obediently starting trotting after his master. Chloe went three doors down the hall and knocked on the door.

"Hey Chloe," the woman who answered the door was groggy and clearly still in a sleep fog, but the cup of coffee in her hand would probably fix that soon enough.

"Hey Lindsay," Chloe chirped. "I really appreciate you and Trevor watching Bentley while I'm out of town."

"Not a problem Chloe, now get going before you miss your flight," Lindsay all but demanded around a yawn.

Chloe broke into a face-splitting grin and she said, "Thanks again."

"Yeah, yeah, now go!"

"Right," and with that Chloe was all but skipping back to her apartment. She slung her laptop bag over her shoulder and started pulling her suitcase behind her.

Thirty minutes later and Chloe was navigating through the slippery and crowded streets of Chicago. As she was sitting behind a powder blue Prius with 'Save the Whales' and 'Save the Quails' bumper stickers, Chloe felt like pounding her head on the steering wheel. While she was certainly used to Chicago traffic, it certainly didn't mean that she was any more patient with it than anyone else.

"God I hate traffic," she mumbled to herself and as a distraction, switched on the radio.

"And coming at you right now is the newest single from Los Angeles's sweetheart, DJ CC Hale. Last night's release of the Grammy Award nominations revealed that Miss Hale is up for awards in Best Female Artist, Best Electronic Single, Best Pop Single, Hottest Album, and Hottest Single. This next song, Still Into You, is up for Song of the Year, off of her nominated album, See You at Seven, so enjoy and remember to keep an eye on the Awards!"

Chloe was glad when the radio personality finally decided to stop flapping his yap and instead put on the song he'd been blathering about for several minutes. It took Chloe a few beats of being stunned and awed before she started to get really into the song, bobbing her head to the beat and banging her hands on the steering wheel. Some ass shaking was soon in order and Chloe found herself practically ashamed that this was the first time she'd ever even heard of a CC Hale. It really wasn't her fault. Between medical school and attempting to secure a residency, she hadn't had a whole hell of a lot of time to get out and listen to the radio. Chloe made a silent vow to look up this mysterious DJ on her plane ride out to LA.

In the meantime, right there was her exit and if this douche knocker did not get the hell out of her way so help her she was going to cut a bitch. She was going to cut all the bitches.

Five hours of enthusiastic web surfing later and Chloe was feeling sufficiently stunned and in awe of a girl who most of the world was watching and most of the world knew next to nothing about. At first Chloe had just been interested in CC Hale's career from a mildly curious listener's standpoint, but now she was pretty sure she was now bordering on the side of obsessed. She really couldn't help it.

While looking up DJ CC Hale, she'd turned up very little information and even fewer pictures so it's not even like she could put a face with the voice. Sure, there were the generic pictures of press conferences and award shows, but CC Hale had done an amazing job of hiding herself from nearly any and all curious followers, fans and paparazzi alike. All the pictures that Chloe's numerous google searches had turned up depicted a woman of average height with striking facial features, at least what could be seen of them, in various hats and always large-framed sunglasses that covered nearly the entire top half of the woman's face. Even her Wikipedia page was woefully barren, most of the information on her revolving around music releases and awards. There was no background information, no family connections, no relationships, not even rumors; it was like the woman hadn't even existed until five years ago.

And all of this just fueled Chloe's desire to know more about the woman. She'd always been a sucker for the mysterious façade; it was a bit of a weak point honestly. It had been ever since high school and even more so throughout college. She really couldn't help it. Off the top of her head, Chloe could name five girls and boys who had the tattooed, pierced, and all around mysterious aura that Chloe honest to goodness could not get enough of.

One in particular that every time Chloe thought of had her sucking back oxygen because her breath was caught in her throat. It had been a while since Chloe Beale had thought of Beca Mitchell. And by a while, Chloe meant like two weeks. Which, let's be honest, was basically like twelve minutes ago seeing as the last time Chloe had seen the girl was five years ago. Chloe missed Beca, plain and simple. She missed the girl's sharp wit. She missed the girl's melodious voice. She missed Beca's flashing and mischievous eyes. She missed the piercings and the tattoos and the smirk. God, she just missed Beca.

Chloe was jolted out of her thoughts by a flight attendant touching her shoulder and insisting that Chloe turn off all her electronics and return her tray and seat to an upright position. Chloe did as she would bid and waited for the plane to touchdown in LA. God damn it had been too long since she'd gotten out of her city. She really needed this vacation.

* * *

><p>Aubrey Posen shifted slightly on her feet and looked at her watch. It was now 11:36 and Chloe was officially twenty two minutes late. She supposed it couldn't really be blamed on the girl. It's not as if she had control over her flight and when it arrived. Still, in true Posen fashion, Aubrey could feel a slight ripple of discomfort at the tardiness. Had she been younger, that ripple would most likely have been accompanied by an overwhelming desire to vomit. However, four years of law school and the stress that came along with it had forced Aubrey to find a less revolting way of handling her stress. It was a largely trial and error process, though she'd discovered considerable success through yogic breathing. Yes, yoga had done wonders for the uptight blond. However, some habits like being perpetually on time had never truly deserted her.<p>

And so Aubrey shifted uncomfortably once again and glanced one more time at her watch. 11:38. Where the hell was Chloe? Aubrey's musings were interrupted by a flying ball of flaming red hair that all but tackled her.

"Oof," was all Aubrey managed to grunt out before all the air in her lungs was squeezed by an overly-exuberant redhead. It took her a few minutes but eventually was able to squeeze out, "Hey Chlo." Chloe's only response was a grunt and to squeeze harder. "Oxygen, Chlo, oxygen dammit," Aubrey gasped through a strangled voice.

"No," Chloe mumbled into wherever the hell her face was pressed up against. Aubrey heaved a resigned sigh and wound her own arms around the redhead and let her cheek fall to rest on top of Chloe's chaotic waves. Finally, a good ten or so minutes later, Chloe sighed in content and loosened her grip on her best friend just long enough to thread her arm through Aubrey's and pull the slightly taller woman flush against her side. "God I missed you Bree."

"I should hope so," Aubrey said drily as the two began to wind their way through the congestion at LAX. "I don't know many other people who can put up with your hugs."

"Shush you," Chloe chastised with a giggle. "You know you love them." Aubrey rolled her eyes but didn't bother correcting her best friend because, yes, she did love Chloe's attack hugs. Even if that one time she ended up with a concussion. Chloe rightfully took Aubrey's silence as her acquiescing and stooped slightly to rub her cheek against the top of Aubrey's shoulder.

Aubrey chuckled at her friend's antics and teased, "Just how in the hell are you not a cat person?" Chloe wrinkled her nose and distaste and shook her head enthusiastically.

"Nooooo thank you," she exclaimed. "Dogs all the way." Aubrey laughed again and they went to go collect Chloe's bag and drive back to the hotel they would be staying in.

"So when does everyone else get here?" Chloe asked curiously as she slid into the front seat of the bright red convertible Aubrey had rented for the duration of their layover in Los Angeles.

Aubrey herself got into the driver's seat and started the engine before replying, "Cynthia-Rose and Stacie will be flying in from Georgia later on today." The two girls had stayed in Georgia together. Eventually, Cynthia-Rose and Denise's relationship had fallen through, at that point Chloe was knee deep in anatomical text books and she never got the full story out of what happened, but they must've ended on good terms because she never sensed any animosity between the two. Regardless, sometime in their senior year, Stacie and Cynthia-Rose had finally cleared the air of all sexual tension and got together. Cynthia-Rose ended up staying at Barden to get her master's in business and Stacie was just an hour away at Northern Stanton for a PhD in psychology. The girl who had a habit of grabbing her own boobs was actually pretty smart, as it turned out.

"Ashley is flying in from Texas tonight, Fat Amy should be getting here in like two hours from New York, and Lily is driving up from Flagstaff tomorrow morning. I think Denise's flight gets in at like one in the morning but I'm not actually sure."

Chloe quirked her eyebrow. She knew, logically, that just because they were all Bellas, it didn't mean that they were best friends or even that they'd all stay in contact because that sure as hell hadn't happened. She just hadn't realized that they had become so scattered. Add in her own place out in Chicago and Aubrey's residency in Seattle and the Bellas were literally stretched from sea to shining sea.

"When do we leave for Hawaii?" Chloe asked in excitement, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. While most days she was exhausted down to her very bones, she refused to let that deter her natural energetic nature.

Aubrey shot a pointed look at her best friend that very clearly read 'Calm your tits before I calm them for you' but she answered nonetheless, "We fly out tomorrow at 1:30 and should arrive in Honolulu by 5. From there we'll depart for the hotel and make sure everything is settled before our week long excursion begins." Chloe blinked twice before bursting out in laughter. The care-free sound reverberated around the car and drifted happily out the window. The sound was so light-hearted and beautiful that Aubrey couldn't find herself capable of doing anything other than shooting a quirked eyebrow at her passenger.

"You sounded like you were a robot reciting an itinerary," Chloe said between snickers. Aubrey chuckled lightly, Chloe's attitude easily contagious. "Whooo!" Chloe threw her hands up in the air joyously, reveling in the feeling of the wind streaming through her spread fingers. "This is going to be the best vacation ever!"

* * *

><p>"What the hell do you mean that our flight has been canceled?" Aubrey snarled at the cowering man at the Delta flight information booth. This was usually when Chloe would step and save the poor soul that was facing Aubrey's wrath, but she was too in shock to be of much help to anyone.<p>

"W-w-we-well," the man stuttered out, his eyes downcast as he avoided looking directly at the furious blond in front of him. "There's been a complication with the plane and it's been taken in for repairs. Unfortunately all the other flights out to Honolulu are booked and we can't reschedule your flight until two weeks from now."

"Two weeks!" Aubrey shrieked. She felt the familiar bubble in the back of her throat starting to surface and she had to force herself to step back and take several deep breaths.

When she finally felt she could open her mouth without spewing vomit everywhere, she said in a quiet and tight voice that was ten times as terrifying as when she was yelling, "What do you mean two weeks?"

The man at the desk was by no means stupid and instantly picked up on the threat and danger lying beneath her words, so he sputtered out as quickly as he could, "I'm really sorry ma'am. A full refund will be returned to the credit card used to purchase the seats but there isn't anything we can do about the flights. If you'd like, I can provide you with a list of hotels in the area?"

Aubrey nodded stiffly and the man moved quickly to comply with his offer. As he bustled around in the small space, Aubrey's thoughts were racing on how to fix this. The money really wasn't an issue, as a matter of fact her father had paid for all the girls to fly out to Hawaii and stay in a fabulous resort for a week. What was the problem was this week and a half they had all taken off from their jobs was all of the vacation time that they had. At least, Aubrey knew that personally, she sure as hell wasn't going to be able to find an unoccupied week and a half for another year.

With an aggravated grimace, she snatched the promised list of nearby hotels and stalked back to the Bellas to explain the situation. All of the girls were immediately set a buzz and it took a solid twenty minutes for everyone to calm down and plan what to do next. It finally came down to just getting enough hotel rooms and figure out what the hell they were going to do for the next nine days in LA.

* * *

><p>Aubrey Posen was from a long and dignified line of lawyers and as such it was drilled into all Posen children at a young age that a Posen did not just give up. On a completely unrelated note, Aubrey Posen had given up on trying to find a hotel outside of the Motel 6. Apparently the Bellas' wave of bad luck hadn't just stopped with the plane. Oh no. That would be just too easy. Instead, it had extended to all of the hotels in the area being booked, maintenance issues, or not being up to Aubrey Posen's standard. Meaning they received a quarter of a star on Yelp and in the comments, 'cockroach' and 'bedbugs' had appeared more than once.<p>

"No luck?" Chloe murmured sympathetically as she rubbed Aubrey's back. The other woman was currently sitting on a bench in the middle of the Los Angeles airport, her cell phone dangling loosely between her fingertips, and her head bowed in defeat.

"None," Aubrey mumbled. "There is literally not a single room anywhere."

"Alright," Chloe said in a determined voice, refusing to let yet another setback bring down her enthusiasm any. "So we go to Plan D."

"D?" Aubrey questioned curiously.

"Yup, D," Chloe stated with a determined nod. "Hawaii was Plan A, hotels were Plan B, and sleeping on a bench like a hobo was Plan C." Aubrey smiled slightly before following Chloe over to where all the other Bellas were milling about with various coffee products in their hands. "Alright ladies," Chloe said with a grin on her face and a clap of her hands, eerily reminiscent of her senior year of the Barden Bellas. "Does anyone have the phone number of anyone who lives out here in LA?"

All of the other women shifted around, awkwardly looking at each other, waiting for someone else to step up. Finally, Fat Amy broke the silence with, "I miiiiight have the number of someone… maybe."

"Well either you have it or you don't," Aubrey said sharply, nearly barking at the other girl.

"Weeeeelllll," Fat Amy hedged once again, twiddling with her phone in her hands awkwardly and not making eye contact.

"Amy!" Aubrey snapped finally in exasperation. Fat Amy's shoulders slumped ever so slightly as she handed over her phone, a contact already pulled up. Aubrey didn't even look twice at the name; she just hit the call button. With another exasperated look shot in the direction of the large blonde that was promptly ignored, Aubrey held the phone up to her ear and tapped her foot impatiently.

However, Aubrey soon felt her breath hitch and her eyes widen instinctively when a slightly digitized and muffled voice that she hadn't heard in YEARS broke through the line, "Hello?"

"No way," the blonde breathed in disbelief. "There's just no effin' way."

_Honey why you calling me so late?  
>It's kinda hard to talk right now.<br>Honey why are you crying? Is everything okay?  
>I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Bwahahaha. That is all. <strong>

**You all surpassed all of my review expectations with flying colors, so this week's goal is 108. Please and thank you.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclamier: I don't own Pitch Perfect or the Imperial March**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Last Time…<em>**

_However, Aubrey soon felt her breath hitch and her eyes widen instinctively when a slightly digitized and muffled voice that she hadn't heard in YEARS broke through the line, "Hello?"_

_"No way," the blonde breathed in disbelief. "There's just no effin' way."_

"Well hello to you too," the voice on the other side of the line said drily.

"Benji?" Aubrey asked in disbelief. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, and who is this?" Benji's voice zoned in and out of focus slightly as it sounded like he was moving around.

"Aubrey Posen," Aubrey responded in a clipped and curt fashion.

"Oh," Benji's voice was filled with understanding and just a little bit of relief that some random hobo and/or stalker hadn't gotten a hold of his cell phone number. "From Barden?"

"Yeah," Aubrey let her voice trail off slightly awkwardly. While she knew of Benji and his last minute induction into their then rivals, she never really talked with the guy. She was a senior, he was a freshman, he was a Treble, she was a Bella. The connection had just never really happened.

"So…" Benji, while Aubrey distinctly remembered the boy being rather horrendous at picking up social cues what with his cape and love of magic tricks, had instantly picked up on the awkward pause between the old college alumni. "Why exactly are you calling me Aubrey?"

Aubrey sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, sorting through her thoughts. She only had one chance at this and it had to go perfectly. "Well," she started off slowly, enunciating each carefully chosen word with great skill. "We, as in the Bellas from your freshman year, are in Los Angeles. We were supposed to be on a plane out to Hawaii but due to mechanical difficulties our plane was grounded and we won't be able to get out to Hawaii after all."

"I'm sorry," Benji said hesitantly, unsure of how exactly he fit into all of this.

"Anyway," Aubrey continued as if Benji had never interrupted her. "We attempted to find a hotel that we could stay in until we had everything figured out, but regrettably there was no vacancy at any suitable hotels in the area and as such we are in need of a favor."

"Right…" Benji was still confused as to where exactly his presence came into play. Chloe watched as her best friend did her own personal version of stuttering into the phone as Aubrey floundered for the best possible way to phrase this request. Finally, the (barely) patient redhead's tolerance ran out and she snatched the phone out of the flustered blonde's hand.

"Hi Benji!" Chloe chirped, yes chirped, into the phone. "It's Chloe Beale, the redhead Bella from Barden University. What my ever so eloquent co-captain is trying to say is that we need a place to stay because all the hotels are booked and you're the only number of anyone we've got out here in LA. Do you think you can help us out?"

"Hey Chloe," Benji said with an obvious chuckle in his voice. "And why didn't Aubrey just say so? That would have been easier."

"Well yeah," Chloe agreed with a grin in Aubrey's direction. "But she's Aubrey so that wasn't really in option."

"No kidding," Benji was chuckling again and Chloe faintly heard some papers rustling around as Benji paused for a moment. "Hey, if I give you guys an address to a restaurant, can you meet me there in like half an hour?" Chloe looked over at Aubrey and relayed the request to which the blonde looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, we can do that," Chloe passed on to Jesse and whipped out her own cell phone, Amy's wedged firmly between her shoulder and her ear. "772 Los Robles Avenue, and we're looking for a place called Emilio's Table," Chloe read back what she'd typed onto her own phone.

"Yup, sounds right," Benji confirmed. "Just tell the host that you're with Benji and he'll get you a table. So I'll see you guys in thirty minutes?"

"We'll be there," Chloe assured and the two ended the phone call. Chloe turned back to the Bellas and a slightly peeved looking Aubrey and asked, "Who's ready for lunch?" The women all grinned and they made their way out to where never ending taxis were parked.

Of course, Aubrey would only let them leave after threatening the man at the desk that if anything happened to their luggage, his family tree was going to be pruned very, very soon. The man had paled and babbled out reassurances that nothing would happen and that as soon as they had an address available, the airport would have it shipped to them, free of charge. Aubrey had huffed and stalked away, leaving an ashen faced man in her wake. Chloe just laughed at her best friend's antics and the women all piled into taxis, excited to catch up with one another after too much time apart.

A total of three taxis were taken, the address rattled off to each driver, and soon they were off. Aubrey and Chloe, who had ended up in a taxi with Fat Amy, both laughed loudly and often at the large Tasmanian girl's stories. If anything, Amy's life had gotten even wilder since she left college, a feat that impressed both the older women, and she had more than a few wild tales to spin. She even got the taxi driver to laugh, and he looked even more serious than Aubrey.

Finally, the taxi they were riding in pulled in front of a restaurant that immediately had Aubrey on edge. The neighborhood was slightly sketchy looking with more than a couple suspicious characters prowling around, and the store itself looked a little worse for the wear. Aubrey eyed the building cautiously, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to go in. It took Chloe pointing out that while it wasn't necessarily a five star store front, there weren't any bullet holes in the walls or boarded up windows like that one pizza place she frequented all throughout med school and Fat Amy calling Aubrey a bizarre mixture of yellow-bellied and something about fish guts to even get Aubrey out of the car.

They paid the taxi driver who sped off, clearly eager to get the hell away from the lower end side of town they were now stranded in. Chloe and Amy each grabbed an arm and coaxed, read dragged, Aubrey into the establishment. As soon as they pushed through the grimy front door, they were greeted with a heavenly aroma that had all three of their stomachs rumbling simultaneously. The exterior of the store did its interior positively no justice. Sure, the place as a whole looked slightly worn in, but it gave the whole room a warm, lived in feel. Add to that intoxicating smells coming from the direction of the kitchen and the place immediately had all three women at ease.

However, they were surprised to see a line of people already waiting for a table in the already full restaurant. Chloe's shoulders sagged as she realized that she wasn't going to be able to sit down and chow down at once and her feet and stomach practically ached as one. Still, she strode confidently over to the host and smiled at the massive man manning the front podium. His muscles were easily the size of Chloe's head and every available inch of skin was covered in dark and intricate tattoos. Even the top of his bald head was inked.

"Hi," she said brightly, flashing the man another smile that he seemed completely unfazed by. "We were told to drop by from Benji?"

"Applebaum?" the man asked gruffly, his voice deep and dangerous.

"Yup!" Chloe sang. "The one and only."

"Right this way then," the man said and Chloe was shocked as she looked back and nodded to Fat Amy and Aubrey who pushed through the crowd of people to follow the man. He led them through a small door that was previously draped in cloth and when pushed away, revealed another, smaller dining room. The walls were decorated with the same sort of murals and motifs that had been in the front room, though there was only one table with a multitude of chairs around its edges. "I'll send in someone to take your orders in a couple of minutes," the muscle man informed them before moving out of the room, letting the curtains fall back into place.

The three women were silent for a moment, each looking around the room they were in and attempting to gather their thoughts, before Amy finally said, "I think we just met the Mexican mob."

"No, I'm sure that's not it," Aubrey assured her, though her words were slightly shaky and she didn't sound very confident.

"Did you see his muscles? He looked like he could take twenty dingos at once. Not even I can do that, and I'm the best dingo wrestler in all of Tasmania!" Chloe and Aubrey both searched for an answer to that (there really were none) but were thankfully saved by the curtain being moved and the same man leading in Lily, Stacie, and Cynthia-Rose.

"Hey guys!" Cynthia-Rose greeted the others with a grin.

Stacie however, just looked at them and said seriously, "I think we're in a mafia place. Did anyone bring cement shoes?" Again, Aubrey and Chloe were saved from trying to come up with a logical argument against the mob theory, by Jessica, Denies, Ashley, and finally Benji moving into the room.

"Hey Bellas," Benji said almost shyly, although he really shouldn't have worried. As soon as Chloe caught sight of the familiar little curly 'fro and the sheepish grin, she'd bounced out of her seat and all but crushed Benji in a hug.

"Hey Benji," she said in between squeezes, of which the poor man could give no reply. The rest of the Bellas all moved to give their old alum a hug and greeting, cheerful pleasantries all around. Sometime in the mass confusion of trying to organize ten people to a table, a waiter had come in and ferreted their drink orders out. Finally, all the Bellas were settled in at the table, drinks on the table, and menus in hand. "So Benji," Chloe asked conversationally. "What's good here?"

"Honestly, everything," Benji said with another sheepish grin. Chloe gave a mock scowl and whapped him on the upper arm with a rolled up menu.

"Not helpful," she grumbled though she was grinning and Benji merely shrugged.

"It's true," he supplied.

"Yeah, yeah," Chloe threw in an eye roll for good measure and went back to scanning the menu.

Suddenly, Stacie (ever blunt and up front) asked, "Is this a cover for the mafia."

Benji quirked an eyebrow and admitted, "I don't actually know. All I know is it has some of the best enchiladas in Los Angeles and it's not too far away from work. That's all I need." Several of the girls looked slightly unsettled that he hadn't actually dismissed the restaurant being host to organized crime, but their concerns were forgotten when the waiter came back promptly to take their orders. Sometime later, after the food had been delivered and devoured, all of the Bellas were leaning back contently in their chairs, their stomachs comfortably full, even Aubrey.

"That," Cynthia-Rose declared dramatically. "Was amazing." There were general murmurs of contentment from all around.

"So," Benji said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "You guys need a place to stay out here and all the hotels are booked, huh?"

"You got it," Chloe nodded.

"Well, I'd offer for you all to come stay at my place, but I've only got two bedrooms and one is an office and the other is the size of a shoe box," Benji said, his face twisted in apology. All of the Bellas felt their hopes crash and burn in disappointment. "But," Benji amended quickly, seeing the looks of despair quickly settling in on the various women's faces. "Let me make a couple of phone calls and see what I can do, okay?" Chloe nodded eagerly though Aubrey's nod was far curter. Benji smiled at the group before moving out into the main eating room which had emptied slightly. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number before putting the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey what's up, Jesse?" Benji asked as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms calmly.

"Not much man, I can't complain," Jesse said brightly and Benji could just tell that he would have a shit eating grin on his face. "What about you?"

"Well that's kind of why I'm calling," Benji shifted his arms around awkwardly for a moment, unsure of where to put them. "I'm kind of in a sticky situation and I was wondering if you could give me a hand?"

"Oh, yeah sure, whatever you need bud. Am I going to need garbage bags and a shovel?" Benji couldn't help but be kind of worried when the first thing that came to Jesse's mind when a friend said they were in trouble was the kind of trouble that required garbage bags and shovels.

"No, no garbage bags and no shovel. The Bellas group from our freshman year is having a reunion of sorts I guess and they're in town due to flight complications. Apparently every damn hotel in the area is booked."

"Well yeah," Jesse cut in with a snort. "Who wouldn't want to spend New Year's in Los Angeles? Aside from New York, it's like the number one place to be and a damn dream."

"True," Benji conceded. "Anyway, they need to a place to stay. I'd let them stay in my apartment, but there's nine of them and my apartment's tiny. Is there any way they could stay with you?"

"Ha, I wish," Jesse laughed shortly. "My building had a water main break Christmas Day. I've been camped out in Beca's spare bedroom for the past four days."

"Shit," Benji groaned and ran a hand over his face in a massaging effort. He racked his brain, trying to think of someone, anyone he could ask to house a couple of strangers, not even all nine of them, and coming up with a big old blank. Finally, he had to settle on the only possible solution left. "Do you think she would be cool with us letting the Bellas crash at her place?"

"Dunno," Jesse responded honestly. "She's still out tearing it up in Miami. Don't think she's been home in like two and a half months."

"Damn," Benji whistled. He knew it had been a while since he'd seen his friend but two and a half months was a surprisingly long amount of time in retrospect.

"But, this is Beca we're talking about. Remember that time she had that entire folk band of like eight vegan guys staying with her for a solid month?"

"But it's the Bellas…" Benji trailed off uncertainly.

He heard the soft whoosh as Jesse sighed into the receiver and then the other man was saying, "Why don't you give me like fifteen minutes, I'll give her a call and explain the situation and see what we can work out, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Jess," Benji said in relief, glad that they at least had some semblance of a plan going on. Jesse didn't respond, instead ending the call to make another. Benji slipped back into the back room of the restaurant and addressed the Bellas. "So here's what's going on," he started to explain. "My apartment is like a shoebox and you won't all fit in it and the friend I was going to send you over to is currently staying somewhere else do to building problems. I've got another friend that we're trying to get ahold of to see if you can stay with them." The Bellas all nodded and sat at the table, quietly mulling over this new information.

"Say, Benji," Stacie piped up. "Are you in the mafia?"

The drink of water that Benji had just taken was promptly sprayed all across the table. "Excuse me?" he coughed as he wiped up as much of the water as he could.

"Well you're being really secretive and you keep referring to people as 'my friend' and 'we' and it sounds very mob-like," Stacie explained bluntly and with a straight face.

"No," Benji managed to sputter out between more coughs. "I am most definitely not a part of the mafia, thank you very much!"

"But you knew the guy here and all you had to do was say your name and they led you back here to this very mafia-ish room," Stacie pointed out.

"Are you shitting me?" Benji couldn't help from blurting out. Stacie just quirked an eyebrow expectantly.

Benji groaned and said, "No, I am not a part of the mafia. I come to eat here every Tuesday, that's why the guy knows me. And the only reason I get immediate service is my best friend's boss is that guy's cousin. Manny's got like fifty-billion cousins running around LA and all you have to do is drop his name and you're treated like family."

"Manny huh…" Cynthia-Rose jumped into the conversation with a disbelieving snort. "Sounds like a made up name."

"Yeah, that sounded too rehearsed," Fat Amy was quick to add her own two cents. "Definitely mob-ish."

"I once killed a man for the New Zealand mob," Lily whispered, though no one heard her.

"It's true!" Benji nearly shouted in hysteria. "My friend works for Manny at TurnStyle Records Incorporate as a producer and she and Manny are on really good terms."

"There you go with the 'my friend' thing again," Chloe couldn't stop herself from joining in to tease the poor man who was currently turning an interesting purple color. "If you're so close with this friend, what's her name?" Fortunately Benji didn't have to try and come up with a fake and undoubtedly horrendous cover name for Beca by his phone ringing. In all of his life, Benji couldn't name a time he was more grateful for his Imperial March ringtone .

"Hello?" he gasped gracefully into the receiver.

"Yo, Ben, Beca and I have a plan."

"So what's going on?" Benji asked nervously, acutely aware of all of the Bellas' eyes trained on him and straining their hearing to hear the other end of the conversation.

"So Beca said she's okay with it," Jesse announced dramatically into the phone, to Benji's immediate relief.

"She is?" he couldn't help but ask, more than slightly skeptical.

"Well sort of. She doesn't expect to get back into LA until mid-January so she says they can stay at her place since she won't be there. Anything they break, we pay for, and I have to lock up the Cave, but other than that, it's a go."

Benji let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and said in relief, "Oh thank god."

"Yup," Jesse said as there was the sound of movement from the other end. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to run back to the apartment and hide her pictures. Give me like an hour, okay?"

"You're going to clean up and hide your underwear aren't you?"

"Indeed," Jesse declared. "See you in an hour."

"Yeah, thanks, Jess," Benji said sincerely and ended the call. He turned back to the Bellas and said with a smile, "I've got a place for you guys."

"And just to be clear it's not with the mob?" Stacie asked deviously.

"For the last time, I'm not in the mafia!" Benji shouted. However, just as he'd finished, the large bulky man from earlier showed up and handed Benji a piece of paper.

He shot a disinterested look at the Bellas and said to Benji, "Mr. Applebaum, it's from our… friend in Miami."

"Right," Benji groaned, knowing exactly what was going to be on that sheet of paper. A quick glance showed a note scrawled out.

_Benji, call me as soon as you're alone – B. _

"Thanks Don," Benji nodded gratefully. "And the checks?"

"Don't worry about it," the man replied brusquely. "It's covered." Benji nodded absently, tucking the note into the back pocket of his jeans. The large man, Don, nodded stiffly to Benji and the Bellas before backing out of the room.

There were a few beats of silence before Stacie said, "Oh yeah, you're definitely in the mob." Benji rolled his eyes once again, not bothering to point out for the umpteenth time that he was not in the mob, and that he was in fact involved in the financial backings of film productions. It would be wasted effort at this point.

"As soon as you girls are ready to go, we can head out," Benji sighed.

As the Bellas sat around talking for just a little bit longer, Benji couldn't help but wonder how in the hell he was going to explain to nine overly-curious women how exactly he'd managed to procure an apartment for them to stay in with no current occupant that didn't make it sound like he was in the mob even more than he apparently already did. So far he had come up with nothing. Oh well. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it.

_Baa baa baa baa, bum ba-da, bum ba-daaaaa,  
>Ba ba ba, baaa, ba-dum, baaa bum-dum<br>Baa bum, baa bum, ba-be-de-umptom  
>Ba badam, ba badiumtum, ba ba DAAAAAA<em>

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><p><strong>So you guys basically killed all of my review expectations, so I thought releasing this chapter about six days early was the least I could do. If it's a little rushed and a little shorter than usual, sorry. I wrote this entire thing last night in an effort to get it out to you guys. <strong>

**Review goal: 140**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect and I don't own Ozzy Osbourne's Road to Nowhere**

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><p>Beca Mitchell could practically feel the beat of the music pumping through her veins and into her very soul. Her head was bobbing, her foot was tapping, and her ass may or may not have been shaking. She'd deny it until her dying day. She tended to be stubborn like that. As the last song ended, she clicked a few buttons and slid a few dials, instantly queuing up her next hit. She didn't even bother introducing the song; everyone who had so much as turned on a radio in the past month and a half knew what this song was. The first few bars of Still Into You had the entire club shouting, dancing, and fist-pumping in a few seconds. As her newest hit rattled the speakers, Beca took a moment to appraise the crowd in front of her.<p>

For over two months, Beca had been tearing up Miami, Florida with the smirk to end all smirks adorning her face. Ever since mid-October, Beca had been on loan to one of the hottest and newest clubs on the East coast. It had been a personal favor to an eagerly sought after artist as a way to help build up some hype. Apparently there was nothing quite like a Grammy-Award winner spinning every weekend to get the ball rolling. The man had readily agreed to a contract with TurnStyle Records to pay back that favor, and Manny had been over the moon ecstatic to secure a deal with Ethan Powell, an up-and-coming rapper with his choice of record labels. As such, Beca had been playing at Ethan's club, Pulse, for damn near every Friday and Saturday for the past eleven weeks.

As the current play came to an end, Beca pulled the mic towards her face. "How's everyone doing out there tonight?" she asked, shouting slightly to be heard over the ending chords. Her answer was what could only be described as a roar in return. "Alright, then," Beca couldn't help but say with a chuckle, loving the crowd's response. "This one is for all you single ladies out there tonight." There was yet another roof shaking scream and the walls practically quaked as damn near every other girl in the club bustled over towards the dance floor. Beca couldn't help but smirk as she put on a tried and true mash-up that had yet to be broken out that night, a rather vindictive collaboration of P!nk's _U and Ur Hand_ and Beyoncé's _Single Ladies_.

Beca leaned onto the sound board, careful not to push any buttons and instead just rested carefully, observing all those around her. Club scenes were very familiar to Beca; after all, it was in a dimly lit room with glow sticks and free-flowing alcohol that she got her start in. She'd been a first-rate DJ at a second-rate club, but five years ago that was more than she ever could have imagined she'd be able to get to. Manny had been a god send to Beca, in more ways than one. Whether it was securing a lawyer-proof contract, getting her a gig at one of the best clubs in LA, Topped Off, helping her get set up in Production, getting Jesse a PA-ship that turned into a scoring job under some big-wig movie producer who Beca had no idea who it was, or having one of his never ending cousins help her move apartments. Manny had her ass and anyway that Beca could help the Afro-Man out, she was quick to jump on the chance.

Another perk to Miami was the wonderful perpetual good weather that promised beach bunnies at all times of the year. While they certainly weren't all walking around in bikinis or sun-tanning, it seemed like nearly every other girl she met was tall and tan out here. Which, of course, suited her needs quite fine. Back in October when Beca had been first told about a possible gig out in Florida, she had practically pounced on the proposal. Beca was the first to admit that back then she'd been stuck in a little bit of a rut. Ever since her last collaboration had ended, she'd felt like she'd been going around in circles. Add to the fact that she hadn't gotten in laid in over two months and Beca had definitely been feeling the desperate need to get the hell out of LA. At least for a little while.

Out East and down South, Beca had been tearing up Miami and was having a hell of a time doing so. After the first month, she'd stopped the rampant bringing girls home and instead focused more on her music. The day that she had been supposed to go back, sometime in November if she remembered correctly, she'd called Manny and asked to extend her trip for a couple of days. A couple of days turned into a week and a week turned into a month. And now it was looking like she wasn't going even going to get out until well into January, with just enough time to show up for the Grammy Awards.

Well, that had been the original plan. Right up until twenty minutes ago. She'd received a rather… forward email from Sid and he was none too pleased. Apparently the new producer they'd hired was a bit of an alcoholic and had spilled a White Russian on a $23,000 piece of equipment. Being one producer down in LA usually wouldn't be an issue, but being down one producer just after Christmas and working with four different artists a week, and you had yourself in a bit of jam. As such, Beca was being, for lack of a better term, recalled. Sid had sent over flight details on a plane which was set to leave tomorrow at six.

"Alright Miami!" Beca called into the microphone, catching her replacement out of her peripherals. "You guys have been amazing and this has been a kickass couple of months, but unfortunately I've got to bid you all adieu and head on back to big, bad LA. If you're ever out in Cali, hit me up!"

The club shook as the dancers and party-goers all screamed. Beca pushed a button to have her last song of the night play, and unplugged her very nice and very expensive headphones. She looked around the DJ booth that had been her home away from home for the past two and a half months and gave her replacement a nod. The man, Beca was pretty sure his name was Alfred or something like that, quickly set up and just like that Beca was gone. As she trotted down the back staircase and slid through the nearly hidden pathway that kept the DJ's separate from the dancers, she pulled out her phone. A quick text to Ethan thanking him for the opportunity and promising to stay in touch, and she was gone. She hopped into the black rental car that she'd gotten her first night out here and headed over to the hotel to try and get in a last good night of sleep.

She spent most of the next day holed up in her hotel room, her fingers flying fast and furious across the keyboard of her laptop. She was negotiating and hashing out the details of her schedule, trying to keep things perfectly worked out between her public relations advisor, Tessa, and Sid. Both were trying to get as much of Beca's time as they physically could and it was exhausting trying to mediate the two of them.

About ten minutes before Beca's plane was set to depart, she received a rather frantic call from Jesse. It had taken her several attempts, but she had finally gotten the gist of what the boy's call was about. Sort of. Something about the Bellas being in LA and needing a place to stay? Anyway, as Jesse was babbling away about god knows what, her flight started moving and Beca needed to be off the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Jess," she snapped as the flight attendant on hand gave her an expectant glare. "Look, I have to go. Do whatever you need to do, alight?" She wasn't sure what Jesse's reply would have been as she had already hung up on him.

Six and a half hours later, and Beca smiled as she pulled into her apartment's parking garage, glad to be home. She'd certainly been on business trips all around the world for varying lengths of time but it was different being halfway across the country and knowing her best friend was no doubt rooting through her stuff was an entirely different matter. While out and about, Beca made a quick stop to buy about a hundred dollars' worth of groceries, full aware that while Jesse was a great guy, his culinary skills were rather… lacking. No doubt the entire time he'd been in her apartment, he'd made use of her rather extensive catalog of nearby take out places.

And that is how Beca Mitchell ended up in front of her own apartment door with an unholy amount of groceries at 12:30 at night. It had taken some uncomfortable maneuvering to bang on the door with her elbow, unable to do much else. She was just about to give up hope on being let in when the door was flung wide open. Jesse Swanson was standing blearily in the doorway, clad in only a pair of loose flannel pants.

"Wassup Becs?" he asked through a yawn, raking a hand through his unruly bedhead. "Wait…" Suddenly, Jesse's brain caught up to his mouth and eyes and he practically tackled Beca in his haste to hug her.

"Hi, yes, nice to see you, yes I missed you too Jesse, now let me go," Beca wheezed. Jesse did as bid and he moved to relieve Beca of half of the bags of groceries. Beca shot Jesse a grateful look and the two moved into the kitchen to dump the bags on the counters.

"So how was Miami?" Jesse asked as they both moved around the kitchen, putting away the food as they went.

Beca shot Jesse an eyebrow wiggle and a smirk as she said, "Awesome. And so much better than whatever the hell you did out here."

"Yeah, yeah," Jesse said with a flippant wave of his hand.

Beca discretely bit her lip and asked carefully, "So how are the Bellas?" She didn't miss the way that Jesse immediately stiffened.

"They're fine," he said evasively, looking everywhere but at her.

"Right," Beca said suspiciously, his behavior setting her on edge. "How did you solve the whole apartment issue?" Jesse said nothing, running his tongue over his lips nervously. "Jesse," Beca repeated. "How did you solve the whole apartment issue?"

"Well…" Jesse started and stopped. "They may or may not be here…"

"Here as in Los Angeles?" Beca asked curiously.

"Try in your apartment," Jesse admitted with a grimace and his eyes squeezed shut tightly.

"Are you shitting me!" Beca all but shouted, her voice slightly hoarse. "Jesse!"

"Shush," Jesse was quick to hush and make quieting motions with his hands. "You're going to wake them up!"

"Why the hell are they in my apartment?" Beca hissed at her best friend.

"They needed a place to go," Jesse said with a helpless shrug.

Beca narrowed her eyes in annoyance and she said in disbelief, "So you thought a good option was my place?"

"They had nowhere else to go," Jesse tried to reason with Beca, to absolutely no avail.

"Well why not with Benji, or a hotel, or in a crack den?"

"Beca," Jesse sighed in exasperation. Anything else that Jesse was going to defend himself with was cut off by a happy yip and a sleek black body barreling from somewhere deep in the apparent. There was another happy yip and Beca dropped to her knees to give her dog a good scratch. As Beca ran her fingers along silky black and white fur, the energetic fluff ball as Beca had affectionately dubbed her furry best friend was constantly bombarding her face with licks and kisses.

"Hey bud," Beca murmured as she nuzzled her nose into the dog's fur. "How've you been?"

"He's been waiting for you to come home for two and a half months," Jesse informed the girl, happy that the attention was off of him for at least a little bit.

"Well of course he has," Beca cooed, yes cooed, at her dog. "Teddy's my best friend. Of course he's been waiting for me. He doesn't offer my home up to bitches who hate my guts." Jesse winced. Apparently Beca's attention wasn't as diverted as he'd previously believed.

"What was I supposed to do, Bec?" he asked helplessly. "Every hotel was booked, my apartment is out of commission, Benji's place is too small, and I can't ask Tessa to house nine women she's never met before." Beca visibly deflated at the mention of her public relations manager, Tessa Courier, who also happened to be dating her movie-obsessed best friend.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," she mumbled, fully aware that had she gotten more sleep and not just stepped off a five hour flight, she'd probably have fought Jesse more. As it was, all she really wanted to do was curl up with Teddy in her bed.

But it was currently occupied by people who legitimately despised her with their whole beings. Fuck. Of course the one time that she was out of the City of Angels, it got overrun with singing al cappella nerds. Go figure. She ran away to the other side of the country and they still followed her out here. That was just rotten luck.

And now she had nine strangers living in her house. Well… nice _almost_ strangers. With the way they parted, the nine of them were just as good to her as people she'd never even met. As Beca was internally cursing her fate, Jesse had moved back to his position at the kitchen counter, perched on a stool in front of a laptop Beca hadn't noticed before.

"What the hell are you still doing up?" Beca finally asked, watching Jesse fire off an email or two. "From what I remember, you used to be out cold after ten."

Jesse winced slightly as he reached back to rub his back and explained, "I let the Bellas have all the beds, air mattresses, and sleeping bags. I've been on the couch and it's apparently subpar on lumbar support."

"Well yeah dude," Beca said with a snort and an eye roll. "It might be a ten-thousand dollar couch but that doesn't mean it's a good bed."

Jesse looked at Beca with wide eyes and he asked, "That couch is ten-thousand dollars?"

"Yup," Beca said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"You mean I've been drooling on ten-thousand dollars?"

Beca's eyebrows drew together and she asked with a snort, "You drool?"

Jesse rolled his eyes (a habit he picked up during his rooming with Beca) and he snapped, "Shut up." Beca smirked at him and was about to continue the teasing when there was a knock on the door. Beca shot Jesse a confused look to which he merely shrugged. He didn't have any idea who could possibly be at Beca's door so late. Or early, depending on how one viewed it.

Beca moved around Jesse and his stool, Teddy trotting happily at her side, and over to the door. She glanced quickly through the peephole, saw a woman with thick black hair that was long and curly, gorgeous features, and pale blue eyes, and yanked the door open with a crooked grin.

"Howdy punchkin," the woman on the other side greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Kat," Beca shot back with a grin. Kat smiled widely at Beca as she pushed past the much smaller woman to enter the apartment.

"Hey J-Dog," she called out happily to Jesse while pausing to scratch Teddy vigorously behind the ears.

"Hey," Jess nodded sleepily back and Kat smirked.

"Still not much of a night owl I see."

"Shut up," Jesse mumbled as he yawned and rubbed at his eyes. Kat rolled her eyes and turned to appraise her DJ friend who she hadn't seen in too damn long, Beca doing the same. Katarina Daniels was one of the country's hottest new pop artists, found and produced by Beca for the first time a year ago. Although Kat was two years older than her, Beca felt it was her job to make sure that Kat's music was the best it could be and that Kat stayed on top of the charts. Kat, in turn, felt that it was her job to make sure that Beca was okay. Basic daily functions such as eating (Beca had a nasty habit of getting so wrapped up in her music that she'd forget to eat) getting sleep (4 hours a night on a good night) and going out into public that didn't involve a DJ-ing gig or working at the station.

"I'm going to use the bathroom," Kat declared dramatically. "And then we are getting wasted together because it has been too long since I've seen my drinking buddy, comprendo?" Beca chuckled and nodded. Kat shot Jesse a pointed look on her way to the bathroom, one that read clearly, 'YOU ARE NOT INVITED' and he got the oh so subtle hint.

"If it's all the same to you Becs, I think I'm going to turn in."

"Shocker," Beca said with a snort. Jesse rolled his eyes. However, as he was leaving the kitchen, he did grab Beca's one nearly empty bottle of vodka and handed it over without a word.

Beca nodded gratefully and moved out to sit on her balcony. The balcony was one of the many features of the apartment that Beca absolutely loved. It had a great view of downtown LA and she had spent many a sleepless and inspiration-lacking night just watching the lights pass and blink. She moved to sit down, her legs dangling over the edge and her forehead leaning forward to rest on the rail. Resting loosely in her fist was the barely-filled bottle alcohol. Even though she could afford something a hell of a lot more expensive than what tasted like a bottle of vodka from the supermarket, Beca preferred to remember how she got her start, cheap booze and all.

She just sat there, staring aimlessly when her thoughts were abruptly interrupted. "If I recall correctly this is how we met," Kat said from behind her. Beca didn't even bother looking up, opting instead to just offer the older woman the bottle of cheap vodka. Kat yanked the bottle from her grasp and moved to gracefully sit down beside her, her legs bumping against Beca's as she kicked them lightly. Beca turned her head ever so slightly and took in the features of the drop-dead gorgeous girl sitting beside her.

"And if I recall correctly," Beca said, her words articulated and not even sort of slurred, despite the fact she'd been nursing the bottle while Kat was in the bathroom. "We were both significantly drunker, we were at a bar, and you were only wearing a bra."

"But there was vodka involved," the beauty pointed out as she took a deep swig of alcohol.

"That there was," Beca held out her hand and gestured for the bottle. She took a quick gulp and asked, "What exactly are you doing here Kat?"

"Making sure you're okay," the black-haired beauty said without missing a beat. "And I'm here to replenish your booze supply. You're welcome." Kat smirked as she produced a bottle of significantly more expensive looking vodka and a pre-sliced lemon in a Ziploc bag from the purse that Beca hadn't even noticed.

"Good, 'cause this one isn't going to last a hell of a lot longer," Beca said, giving the bottle a good shake and hearing the bottle only slosh a little. Not nearly enough in her opinion, thank you very much.

"Please tell me you and your tiny bod didn't knock half of this bottle back before I got here," Kat said, knowing that despite her small stature, Beca had an alcoholic tolerance that many a college kid would kill to have. However, she also knew that Beca very rarely drinks and when she does, she goes all out.

"Nah," Beca shook her head. "It was pretty much like this out of the cabinet."

"Well thank goodness," Kat said with a straight voice before she started chuckling, Beca soon joining her. "God, it's been too long since we've done this," Kat said with a content sigh as she took a long gulp of Beca's vodka, finishing it off with flourish.

"Hey," Beca protested weakly but Kat just popped the cap off of the second, smaller, bottle. She offered Beca the first go, but the smaller girl didn't take a drink from it, choosing instead to just stare down into the liquid depths.

Kat sat in silence with the young producer for a while before finally asking, "What's wrong Baby B?"

Beca shot her friend a half-hearted glare but she soon gave up as she said with a sigh, "Did Sid call you?"

"Nope," Kat shook her head.

"Manny?" Another head shake. "Jesse?" And another. "Well than why are you here Kat?" Beca winced as it came out harsher than she wanted it too, but Kat didn't take it personally. She did, however, take the implication that she didn't know Beca as a personal affront.

"What the hell would make you think that'd I'd need one of those shit heads to tell me when something's wrong with you?" Kat asked crossly. Beca just pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow. Kat only cursed when she was drunk or when she lost a Grammy (which had only happened once and Beca had no intention of ever repeating that debacle again, thank you very much).

"The Bellas are in LA," Beca started with a long drawn out sigh.

"The Bellas?" Kat asked curiously, her brow furrowed as she tried to remember where she'd heard that name before. "Aren't they those stuck up a cappella bitches from the what, half semester you went to college?"

Beca just snorted and said, "Yeah."

"Well shit," Kat said in a dead pan voice, making a grab from the still full bottle of vodka in Beca's hands. "What are they doing in LA?" Beca sighed and took a slice of lemon from Kat's baggie and sucked on it.

"Flight issues over at LAX on their way to sunny Hawaii. Benji in his perpetual niceness offered up his apartment." Kat took another gulp of vodka.

"How many Bellas are out here?"

"All of them," Beca said shortly.

Kat cocked her head to the side and asked in confusion, "Weren't there ten of them?"

"Nine," Beca corrected. "Now hand over the alcohol."

"Don't you think you should be taking it easy?" Kat asked cautiously.

"No. No I do not," Beca said definitely as she snagged the bottle and took a small sip.

Kat eyed her skeptically but continued their previous conversation, "Alright, so how in the hell did nine people fit into Benji's shoebox?"

"They didn't," Beca said cryptically.

Kat shot her pint-sized cohort a look and Beca admitted, "They're staying here."

"Here as in LA?"

"Here as in my apartment," Beca said shortly.

"Well fuck," Kat said with wide eyes.

"Exactly. Now do you see why I need the vodka?"

"Indeed. Drink more. I'm feeling my blood pressure rise just thinking about it."

"Hear, hear!" Beca shouted jovially as she took a deep swig and started sucking on a lemon, Kat repeating her actions quickly. The two old friends spent the next several hours alternating between knocking back gulps of alcohol and chewing on lemons. While getting well on their way to sloshed, Beca told Kat some stories of her time at college. Some centered on the Bellas, some of her god awful roommate Kimmy-Jin, and some about how she, Jesse, and Benji became friends. It was well past four before the girls had killed their second bottle of vodka and leaving both of them sufficiently inebriated.

"Sooo," Kat drew the word out tauntingly. "Did you have fun out in Miami, chicka?"

"Oh just the best," Beca's words had finally started slurring together somewhere around an hour of drinking later.

"Oooooo," Kat was a rather juvenile drunk, a fact that Beca delighted in telling her at every possible opportunity. "Did you meet sooooommmeooonnne?"

"God you're obnoxious," Beca said with a blatant eye roll.

Kat giggled and said in a silly tone, "I'm taking that as a compliment. Now was it one someone or two someones?" Beca pursed her lips and wisely said nothing. Unfortunately, Kat wasn't letting this one go that easily.

"Ohhhhh more than two didn't you? You whore!" Surprisingly, at least for a pop star, Kat didn't do causal sex. Like at all. And while she respected Beca's decisions to go ahead and forego that particular belief, she still teased her about it.

Fortunately, Beca wasn't one to take that lying down and she rolled her eyes and snorted, "Prude."

"Shut up," Kat said back with a stupid grin plastered on her face. The two remained out on the balcony, watching the world around them start to light up before finally retiring back into the apartment. Beca, while slightly buzzed, certainly wasn't as far gone as Kat was, so she opted to just catch a couple of hours of shut eye in one of the armchairs in the living room. Kat choose to instead collapse on Jesse, pushing him onto the floor, and she started snoring blissfully. And as such, the entire apartment was quiet for several hours, the only sounds soft snoring from Teddy who had curled up next to Jesse on the carpet, and Kat who was face down on the couch.

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><p>Sometime around seven thirty, Beca finally snorted awake. It took her a couple of minutes to grasp where exactly she was, but she quickly gathered her surroundings and she relaxed almost immediately. She was home. Another few seconds and she was tensing all over again as she remembered it wasn't just her in her apartment. The soft snores from the couch revealed both Kat and Jesse snoring away peacefully and further back in her bedroom and in the guest room were nine other women. Holy shit, it was going to be a long day.<p>

Deciding to at least get the smell of airplane off of her, Beca decided a shower was in order. However, in order to take a shower, she needed a change of clothes and to get a change of clothes, she'd have to venture into her bedroom. She didn't want to flip on any of the lights for fear of waking the sleeping Bellas, and more importantly having to talk with any of them. She wasn't sure exactly who was in her bedroom or even in her bed (which had happened more times than Beca cared to admit) and she wasn't all that eager to find out.

She saw two people curled up together in her bed, but that was the extent of what she could see. Over in the corner of her bedroom was an air mattress wedged beneath her bookcase and dresser and another one closer to the door. Beca wasn't 100% sure who was where, but from what she could see, the larger figure who was on the mattress over in the corner was probably Fat Amy, and a tall figure was on the closer mattress, spooning a pillow. The fifth person in the room was curled up in a ball in a sleeping bag on the opposite side of the room and Beca had missed them the first time around. Beca carefully stepped over the pillow-spooning figure and started quietly rummaging through her dresser for a change of clothes.

She pulled out a pair of underwear, a clean bra, a semi-clean pair of jeans and a clean blue and green plaid shirt. As she was exiting her room, she vaguely heard someone get up and readjust themselves on one of the air mattresses, but she didn't bother looking back. Gratefully safe in the bathroom, Beca turned the shower on full blast and stripped down to step under the spray. As she massaged shampoo into her scalp, she started humming one of the new tracks she'd been working on with one of Turn Styles Records' newest artists.

"_Would you let me see beneath your beautiful  
>Would you let me see beneath your perfect<br>Take it off now girl, take it off now girl  
>I wanna see inside<br>Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight"_

As the last chords of the song reverberated around the tiled bathroom, Beca sighed with content. Ever since Chloe had first sprung Beca in the shower, she'd always sort of loved the way the bathroom acoustics worked. The way a voice could sound with it bouncing all around was almost magical.

The thought of Chloe instantly brought Beca off of the musical high that she always got from hearing a good track turn out well. Beca sighed and leaned her forehead against the cold tiles as the warmth of the shower beat down on her. Now was the part of the shower that Beca liked significantly less. The self-loathing pity session that essentially had Beca reliving and despising every mistake she'd ever made. Right now that particular brand of self-loathing was focused primarily on the Bellas.

Yeah, Beca regretted what she did to the Bellas. It was a real dick move on her part. It wasn't so much that she regretted leaving, just more so how she went about leaving. When she'd left, she'd left that note to her father, the note to the Bellas, and the flash drive that Beca wasn't even sure anyone had bothered to listen to.

Through their entire season, Beca had created a slew of mixes and mash-ups that were well matched to the various pitches and ranges of the Bellas. Every time Beca had tried to get Aubrey to listen to what she'd created and she got denied, the many works got saved into files that eventually got loaded onto that flash driver. There must have been over three hundred songs, some complete, some not and just over sixty megabytes loaded. The final compilation that she'd really, really, REALLY wanted to show Aubrey was labeled under the file "Bellas' Final Competition".

But still. She'd left her entire team high and dry. She never even apologized. Well, not in person. That letter was the closest she got. Aubrey, Chloe, Fat Amy, Chloe, Stacie, Chloe, Lily, Chloe, Cynthia-Rose, Chloe, and Chloe, she'd missed them all. Especially Chloe. Over the course of the year, the bubbly redhead had quickly become Beca's best friend, right behind Jesse. That night of the semi's, looking back on it, Beca handled it pretty shitty.

So many times she'd had an apology text all written out only to delete it. There were never the right words and eventually everything at the studio picked up to the point where Beca no longer had any time to think and regret. In fact, it had been damn near months since Beca had thought this much about the Bellas and Chloe.

Eventually, Beca turned off the water and leisurely got out of the tub and started drying off. She wasn't in a huge rush to get out of the bathroom and face the music. She'd spent the better part of her life running away from her problems and now that they were coming back to bite her in the ass, she wasn't sure she shouldn't just hop on a plane to Kansas or Iceland until the Bellas were out of LA.

Beca ran a towel through her hair vicariously, not wanting to mess with a blow dryer. She hated those things. Yanking all her clothes on, Beca exited the bathroom still running a towel through her hair and leaving it to rest on her shoulders to keep her shirt only slightly damp. She made her way into the kitchen, fully intending to cook a good breakfast. Her entire stay out in Miami had consisted of hotel rooms and takeout breakfasts. And, yeah sure, she'd had some good food, but she'd eventually started to miss being able to make her own meals.

Plus, the Bellas would probably be less likely to murder her if she offered them bacon.

When she passed through the living room on her way to the kitchen, she saw that neither Kat nor Jesse had moved an inch. They probably would have slept well into the afternoon if she'd let them, but too bad for them they both had work to get to. Reveling in the early morning silence that was sure to be broken as soon as the first Bella was awake and moving, Beca started moving around the kitchen with well-practiced ease. Soon, drool-worthy scents were emanating from the oven and stove.

"Morning," a groggy voice from behind her said. Beca looked over her shoulder to see Jesse sitting at the kitchen counter, still half-asleep. "Out of curiosity, how did I end up on the floor?"

"Kat," Beca responded simply, as if that explained everything.

"Ahh," Jesse nodded.

"Wanna help?" Beca teased with a smirk. Jesse stuck his tongue out at her and didn't bother to dignify that with a response. It was a running joke between Beca, Benji, and Jesse about Benji and Jesse's lord awful cooking abilities. The two of them had the unique ability to burn water. When they had lived together with Beca their first year out of Barden, Beca had pretty much kept the two of them eating things other than microwaved Ramen. She still got thank you cards from both men's mothers for that endeavor too.

The two old friends exchanged easy banter back and forth as Beca cooked and Jesse slowly started to wake up. "What was the song you were singing?" Jesse asked as Beca elegantly cut up oranges, apples, watermelon.

"You heard that?" Beca asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Teddy kicked my head," Jesse admitted. "Fell asleep right after that though."

Beca couldn't help but chuckle at her best friend's misfortune as she explained, "New song they're working on down in the studio. I'm supposed to start helping out in a couple of days. The lyrics and everything are damn near complete but the new guys apparently aren't very receptive to any ideas so it's going to be a long process."

"I can imagine," Jesse chuckled. He smirked at Beca with a cocked eyebrow as she leaned forward on the counter. "Trying to seduce me DJ-girl?"

"You wish choir boy," Beca snorted. Jesse opened his mouth to retort but it died in his throat as his eyes fixated on something behind Beca's shoulder. "What?" Beca asked with her head cocked comically to the side. Jesse nodded slightly towards whatever was behind her. Beca had a very profound feeling that there was a very irate Bella standing behind her. Now it was just a matter of which one it was. She just really hoped it wasn't Aubrey.

_I was looking back on my life  
>And all the things I've done to me<br>I'm still looking for the answers  
>I'm still searching for the key<em>

_The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me  
>It just won't leave me alone<br>I still find it all a mystery  
>Could it be a dream?<br>The road to nowhere leads to me_

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><p><strong>So boom… there's that. And that just happened. So bam. This chapter was a bitch, around 6,000 words, and FYI I wrote it in one night. Just going to keep chugging along, bit by bit. <strong>

**Review goal for all of you my lovelies, is 190. GO GO GO!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Yes, I own absa-friggen-nothing. Sheesh. Not Pitch Perfect and not The Wanted's All Time Low.**

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><p>Aubrey yawned as she rolled over and came face to face with a calm and sleeping face. Aubrey smirked at Chloe's sleeping form and reached over to tuck a loose red strand behind one of her ears. Aubrey shifted carefully out of the bed so as not to wake up the sleeping red-head and stepped gingerly over Stacie who was spooning a pillow to get to her suitcase. She stooped down to yank out an outfit out of her suitcase and cautiously made her way out towards the bathroom. As she was about to start twisting the doorknob, however, something made her pause.<p>

Coming from the bathroom was a heavenly voice singing a song that Aubrey had never heard before. The voice was strong and haunting as it echoed around the walls of the bathroom. Aubrey was positive that she recognized the voice but she was certain that it wasn't any of the Bellas she remembered. She'd have killed to have a voice like that back in the Bellas at Barden. Aubrey wanted to see who was singing so badly she could almost understand what Chloe was thinking when she barged into Beca's shower all those years ago.

Beca.

Wow, it'd been a while since she'd thought of the little alt girl. Aubrey was instantly hit with a wave of guilt. It had taken her all of three weeks, a disastrous Bellas rehearsal, and a publicized screaming match with her best friend for Aubrey to realize what a bitch she had been. And by then it was too late. Way too late. Beca had been gone for over two weeks by the time that the Bellas had admitted that they'd been unfair to her.

That's not to say that they immediately gave up. Oh no, hell no. They'd gone through every channel possible to track Beca down. They went and harassed the admissions officers, and then Beca's assigned career advisor (who had never even seen or met the girl, shocker), and then they pulled out the big guns.

They went and asked Dr. Warren Mitchell.

Tracking down Beca's father was significantly easier than tracking down Beca. All they had to do was walk into the English building and find a directory. However, right around there was when their luck had run out. Warren Mitchell knew that his daughter was gone, he knew when she'd left, he knew why she left, and that was about it. He didn't know where she'd gone. Or, at least he hadn't been willing to divulge that information to the group of girls that had been a large factor in his daughter's departure. The Bellas had heckled and pestered the man, but over twenty years as a professor had taught Dr. Mitchell to be immune to whining and they'd made no progress with him.

So, they were forced to fall back on Plan B.

Kimmy-Jin had been annoyed at the sudden appearance of the Bellas, but truth be told she'd been expecting it. She had just been surprised it'd taken the Bellas so long. Aubrey didn't remember much of what either party said, just that the Asian had looked almost regretful and more than slightly peeved at the invasion of her privacy. The Bellas had all squished into the dorm room, much like they had after Regionals. However, in stark contrast to that night, there was nothing to signify that anyone other than Kimmy-Jin was staying here. The records were off the wall, the sheets removed from the bed, and the desk void of books or computer stuff. Honestly, with Kimmy-Jin's professional white decorum, the place looked empty.

"She's gone," Kimmy-Jin had stated bluntly when all the Bellas were standing slack-jawed in the nearly empty room.

"Where?" Aubrey remembered snapping back challengingly and Kimmy-Jin had only shrugged.

"She left this behind for you guys, though." She had rummaged around in her desk, finally withdrawing a single white envelope that was bulging slightly at one end. She'd handed it to Aubrey and left the room, leaving all of the Bellas alone with the letter. Aubrey remembered staring at it, Bellas scrawled across the front in loopy handwriting. Finally, it had been Fat Amy who mustered up the courage first to tear it open and read it out loud.

_Dear Aubrey and Bellas,  
>So if you're reading this I'm long gone. I'm not telling you where, just in case one of you does something stupid like try and find me. For what it's worth, these past three months had been some of the best I'd had in a long while. But I've been given an opportunity and it's about time for me to move on. Don't bother with the cell phone; I'm getting a new number when I get to where I'm going. <em>

_Before I leave (or after since by the time you get this, I'll be long gone) I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I was a general pain in the ass the entire year. I'm sorry I didn't say a damn supportive thing the entire year. But I'm really sorry things ended the way they did. That was a real dick move on my part. I shouldn't have changed the set list without asking you guys. So I'm sorry. I hope you girls kick some serious aca-ass (damn you Aubrey) next year. _

_Love you aca-nerds (even if you don't love me),  
>Beca Mitchell<em>

Aubrey couldn't honestly tell you what happened after that. She distinctly remembered crying in front of people other than Chloe for the first time in years. She was just so sorry. Beca had left Barden and she'd left thinking that they hated her. And it was true, at first. But Aubrey had seen the flawed reasoning. She'd been shown a lot of flawed everything in the past however many days.

It had been exhausting, but eventually all the girls were all cried out. The only one still sniffling was Chloe, but Aubrey knew that she'd need a lot more time to cope than the others. It was just the way she was.

They'd then found out that the bulge in the envelope had been from a flash drive. It was a simple affair, a slim black stick. What was on it, however, was far from simplistic. File after file after file of music. Mashups, thoughts, voice recordings, and names. Beca had additionally included a word document that had over thirty pages of notes. Some of it had been in code, but she'd included a key that explained her never ending abbreviations. Aubrey had been shocked at the complexity of not only the music, but also the notes. Nearly every second of every song had been planned out perfectly. Beca's mashups were every bit as complex as a classical composition, every note, every lilt, and every bass drop accounted for.

On the flash drive were distinct folders, ten of them that contained specific mixes and not just general songs and notes. The first nine had the names of the individual Bellas and inside each folder were mashups after mashups. As each girl scrolled through what was downloaded under her name, they were shocked to discover that Beca had included some of their favorite songs in the songs she'd made. Under Stacie's name, an epic twelve minute combination of Lady Gaga and the Black Eye Peas. Under Chloe's was more Bruno Mars than should ever be possible. And under Aubrey's, female sung power ballads that were so intricately woven together that it honestly took her breath away.

The tenth file, the smallest actually, was labeled, Bellas Final Performance Idea. There had only been one file in there, about five minutes long. All the girls had held their breaths when they clicked on it. What had flowed out of Lily's laptop speakers was what could only be described as epic and awe-inspiring. Over ten songs, some pop and recent, others dating to the 80s in release dates; molded together in such a way that it was impossible to know when one song started and the next began.

Aubrey had been stunned. After all the shit she talked about Beca, all the times she shot down any offers of help or input, and Beca had kept creating. She'd even gone so far as to make an amazing final performance idea that if she hadn't left, Aubrey would never have even heard. That was probably one of the first times in a long time that Aubrey had felt soul-wrenching and deep-pitted regret. That feeling soon became common when associated with Beca and the Bellas.

It had taken a little tweaking and a hell of a lot of frustration that Aubrey was positive wouldn't have happened had Beca been there, but the Bellas managed to transform the music file into an actual performance. They had been spectator and revolutionary and managed to beat out the Treblemakers for the Barden Bellas' first ICCA National win.

But it could have been better. Aubrey had known it then and she knew it now. If she had loosened the reins even just a little and let Beca in, they would have been amazing. Legendary. They had kept the search for Beca, keeping an eye on all of the clubs in Atlanta and around Georgia for any mention of Beca, but they never so much as heard a rumor of a DJ of Beca's caliber.

Eventually, the Bellas had to give up. Aubrey was preparing for Law school up at Columbia University, Chloe going to the University of Chicago for medicine, and the rest of the Bellas had to focus on passing all their finals and the rest of college to come. However, Beca was never far from their minds and they did their best to incorporate her ideas as best they could for the next three years, bringing home three more national titles.

Beca Mitchell had completely changed the face of Collegiate A Cappella and no one would ever know.

Least of all Beca.

Aubrey was snapped out of her reminiscing as the voice in the bathroom trailed off, the last chord hanging in the air sweetly, and the water was turned off. Aubrey shifted slightly and straightened her posture, eagerly waiting for the moment when they would meet their host. Absently, she glanced down at her armful of clothes and saw that she was missing something. She hurried back into the bedroom to retrieve her missing piece and emerged quickly only to see that the bathroom door was wide open, warm steam still curling out from inside. It appeared she had just missed the occupant. Aubrey sighed and moved into the bathroom, depositing her clothes on the closed toilet seat and moving to start the water of the shower again. She preferred to meet their mysterious guest fresh faced, thank you very much.

As Aubrey climbed into the shower and immediately began washing her body, her mind started to wander, and she started wondering exactly whose house they were staying in. After leaving the Mexican Mafia restaurant, Benji had hailed them all taxis and taken them clear across town. The road to wherever the hell they were going to had been long and windy. Apparently Benji's 'friend' lived just outside the city in an apartment complex that overlooked the downtown LA area. It was a high end complex, easily costing a fortune to live here. However, the gate master had nodded in acknowledgement at their curly haired guide and they'd all been waved in without so much as a glance.

The ride up to the fifth floor had been cramped and awkward, with boobs shoved uncomfortably against others, but they all persevered. As all nine Bellas and Benji tumbled out of the elevator, Aubrey had taken in their surroundings. The entire hallway was posh and high quality and yet very simple and elegant. When he'd collected himself, Benji had traipsed over to door 5A and rapped sharply on the wood three times. There had been an awkward pause in which all the Bellas had congregated behind the curly haired boy, and suddenly the door had been yanked open to reveal Jesse Swanson with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Hey guys, it's good to see you!" he had exclaimed happily.

"Jesse Swanson?" Chloe had been the one to remember the man's name first, to no one's surprise. "You live here?" Aubrey had been unable to say anything due to surprise. She never in a million years would have guessed that Jesse was Benji's mafia contact.

"Not really," Jesse said with a shrug as he'd opened up the door and motioned for all the Bellas to shuffle in, to which they had gladly complied. "My place is on the other side of town. A friend of Ben and mine is bailing me out until my apartment building is deemed livable." As they had stepped over the threshold, they all passed a dog curled up dejectedly at the door. Chloe was the only who had stopped to bend down and give the dog a gentle scratch behind his ears. The dog had whined softly but didn't move from his position.

"He's beautiful," Chloe had said to Jesse as she gave him a hug.

"I guess," the ex-Treblemaker shrugged. Looking at the dog, he was rather handsome, with thick fluffy black and white fur and knowing blue eyes like ice chips. "He's not mine though."

"Whose is he then?" Chloe asked curiously as she moved slightly to the side to give Denise room to hug Jesse.

"The homeowner's," Jesse had answered Chloe evasively. "All I know is his name's Teddy." The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with Jesse and the rest of the Bellas. Jesse had ordered in from a pizza place around the corner, the number to the place apparently ingrained in his memory and his speed dial, under number four if Aubrey wasn't mistaken.

Throughout the course of the night, all of the Bellas had interrogated Jesse and Benji to try and see whose house they were in exactly, both individually and as a group. Stacie's questions stemmed mostly around the mafia and any connection the two might have with said mob. However, all the two men would say to both the apartment and the mob questions was that no, they were not in the mafia and that they were staying with a friend of theirs. No amount of pestering and badgering would get either of them to spill anything else and eventually the Bellas had given up.

Aubrey's questions were merely from a common courtesy standpoint. It was only natural that she thank their hostess. Perhaps a muffin basket? Aubrey was extremely interested in meeting their absent hostess to thank her for her hospitality and compliment her on the roomy three bedroom and two bath apartment. It was well furnished and styled. Aubrey was from a well off family and she could tell when others were well off as well, even when the rooms weren't flashy or over-bearing. In fact, the house was of simple tastes, decorated but not overdone.

What Aubrey was really interested in was what was behind the third door, which Jesse had informed them was nicknamed 'The Cave' and was actually the third bedroom. However, the door was locked, and if Jesse and Benji were tightlipped about whose apartment they were currently invading, they practically had no lips when it came to the Cave.

Around 11:30 the Bellas had all turned in, jet lag and the excitement of the day finally taking its toll. Jesse had helped them set up an impressive amount of air mattresses and sleeping bags (seriously, who kept four mattresses in the hall closet) and offered to crash on the couch. Benji had bid them all a good evening and left because of work the following morning. And as such, all of the Bellas were still out cold early the next morning.

She wasn't really surprised, Aubrey mused as she exited the shower and wrapped herself in a towel to blow dry her hair. She had always been a punctual and early riser, the habit actually coming in handy while dealing with 8 am classes. When her morning routine was complete and she was fully clothed, Aubrey stepped out of the bathroom with an audible exhale.

As she breathed in again (she studied her yoga class just like she studied her law books) she smelled delicious mouth-watering scents emanating from the kitchen. Aubrey was rather surprised (that seemed to be happening a lot lately). She hadn't thought Jesse could cook, he didn't really seem the type to her. But the smells coming from the kitchen certainly begged to differ.

Walking down the hallway, Aubrey heard the tail end of a conversation between Jesse and who Aubrey assumed to be the owner of the heavenly voice from earlier. The words were muffled, but Aubrey was able to make out the female voice saying, "New song they're working on down in the studio. I'm supposed to start helping out in a couple of days. The lyrics and everything are damn near complete but the new guys apparently aren't very receptive to any ideas so it's going to be a long process."

Jesse laughed slightly and said, "I can imagine." There was a beat of silence and then a teasing tone. "Trying to seduce me DJ-girl?"

The woman chuckled and responded easily, "You wish choir boy." Aubrey hesitated at the bend in the hallway, unsure if she should interrupt the two friends, if the familiarity in the two's voices was anything to go by. Although Aubrey supposed they could be romantically involved. Oh well, she was already up and eager to face the day. Going back to the bedroom to listen to Fat Amy snore wasn't really a pleasant option.

So, Aubrey took the last few steps and rounded around the corner. The first thing she saw that shocked her was that it wasn't Jesse cooking at all. Instead he was sitting at the island, watching the actual cooker. They were both still engrossed in their conversion which gave Aubrey the perfect time to appraise the chef. She, and it was obviously a woman, was small. She was nowhere near Aubrey's towering five foot eleven, probably closer to five foot four, if Aubrey was being generous. The second thing that Aubrey was inexplicably drawn to was the fact the woman was wearing a plaid shirt.

The last time Aubrey had seen someone that small wearing a plaid shirt was over five years ago.

But that wasn't possible, was it?

Aubrey caught Jesse's eye and his eyes widened comically, his end of the conversation dying on his tongue. The woman seemed not to notice at first. However, she soon trailed off with a cautious, "What?" and caught the direction of Jesse's gaze and slight nod. She seemed to brace herself, her shoulders tightening significantly, before she slowly started to turn around. When Aubrey saw the woman's face, she couldn't help it.

For the second time in as many days, she muttered in disbelief, "No way. There's just no effing way."

_So when you gonna let me  
>When you gonna let me out, out<em>

_And if you know_  
><em>How do you get up from an all-time low?<em>  
><em>I'm in pieces<em>  
><em>It seems like peace is<em>  
><em>The only thing I'll never know<em>  
><em>How do you get up?<em>  
><em>Get up?<em>

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><p><strong>Ha you all thought that I was evil before didn't you? BWAHAHAHAHA! So do you like this cliffhanger any better than the last one? And fair warning, under no circumstances will the next chapter be released before either next Friday or Saturday. No exceptions. <strong>

**Thoughts? Feelings? Miscellaneous threats? Drop a review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AND DUN DUN DUN I OWN NOTHING, NOT PITCH PERFECT AND NOT JAY SEAN'S DO YOU REMEMBER.**

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><p>"Beca?" Aubrey breathed, her words choppy and unsure.<p>

The small brunette smirked crookedly at the blonde and said softly, "Hey, Aubrey." Aubrey opened and closed her mouth several times, unsure of how exactly to respond to that. Her brain had shut down. Like actually shut down. She wasn't even really sure that she was breathing anymore. There was a tight and tense silence as Aubrey just gaped and Beca shifted awkwardly. One had no idea to respond and the other was waiting for the proverbial shit to hit the equally proverbial fan. That or the not-as-proverbial as she would like vomit would spew all over her counters and breakfast. Neither of which was a pleasant option. Like, at all.

"Well this is awkward," Jesse muttered to himself. "I'm just gonna go…over there…now…" With that the almost smooth Treble all but sprinted to the bathroom, tripping slightly as he went. However, Jesse managed to stop himself from face planting by flailing his arms dramatically. Beca chuckled softly at the antics of her friend, grateful for the slight interlude from what no doubt was going to be the worst chewing out since the time her mom caught her sneaking into her bedroom window at four thirty in the morning when she was fifteen.

"Beca…" Aubrey started, her eyes narrowed, though in hate or anger Beca wasn't really sure.

"Beca, I'm…" Oh shit fuck damn here it comes. Words or vomit, Beca wasn't sure what was going to come out of Aubrey's mouth, but she really wasn't prepared for either option.

"Oh my god Beca…" Shit, Aubrey was so pissed she couldn't even get the damn words out of her mouth (but it was words and not puke, so hey silver linings and whatnot).

"Beca I'm so sorry." Aaaaannnnd there it was – wait. What was that?

"Beg pardon?" Beca stuttered, completely baffled about what the hell Aubrey had just said.

"Oh my god Beca, I'm just so sorry! I was such a bitch to you back in college and I had absolutely no right to treat you like that and I totally understand why you left and I should have at least given you a chance and I'm just so fucking sorry!" Aubrey blurted out, all in one breath. If Beca had retained even the smallest amount of cognitive function, she would have been impressed. Instead, Beca's mind was reeling and attempting to keep up with the word vomit that had just spewed out of Aubrey's mouth. (But once again, not actual vomity-vomit. Beggars can't be choosers).

In her slightly altered state of mind, all Beca could think to ask was, "Did you just drop the f-bomb?"

Aubrey's face dropped into a deadpan look and she said drily, "Really? I just unloaded five years of guilt onto you and all you can ask is if I just said fuck?"

Beca couldn't help the snort of laughter as she asked, "Why the hell would you be carrying guilt around for five years Aubrey? I'm the one who left."

"And I'm the one who was the bitch who made you _want_ to leave," Aubrey said with a shake of her head. "As far as captains go, I was incredibly shitty. I never should have said or did the things I did and it kind of took you leaving to give me the kick in the ass I needed to see that. So I'm sorry. And thanks. I think."

"Okay, this is so not how I imagined this conversation going," Beca admitted with a confused look on her face. "There should be more yelling, puking, and loathing going on." Aubrey blushed and looked down at her feet. She knew exactly what Beca meant. The old Aubrey Posen would never be standing in Beca Mitchell's apartment and apologizing shamefully. But then again, the old Aubrey Posen had been a massive bitch with a stick the size of Montana up her ass, so you know, give and take.

"Well I am sorry," Aubrey mumbled in embarrassment, her gaze still on the floor.

"Yeah, well me too," Beca sighed. Aubrey's head snapped up in shock. Beca gave Aubrey a sheepish and crooked smirk, "Not that I don't appreciate the apology, but I had a part in this too. So I'm sorry that I acted the way I did, it was pretty childish and I didn't handle it well. Any of it."

"It's… okay," Aubrey said unsurely, letting the words trail off. Neither woman was really sure how exactly that conversation ended up where it ended up.

Beca shifted a couple more times and said hesitantly, "Soooo... you wanna help with breakfast?"

"You actually want me to help?" Aubrey asked in surprise.

"Hey, if you want to help, go ahead, if not then don't," Beca said with a noncommittal shrug. "It's no skin off my ass." Aubrey couldn't fight the eye roll at the younger woman's crass language, but she moved around the side of the counter nonetheless.

"So what are you making?" she asked as she rolled her sleeves up crisply. Beca quirked an eyebrow at the blonde before moving over and surrendering a knife to the blonde, gesturing to the fruits on the cutting board.

"I thought I'd just keep it simple you know…"

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><p>Jesse was going to admit that he eavesdropped on Beca and Aubrey's conversation shamelessly. First he just had to make sure he was out of the vomit-zone (sort of like a demented version of the splash zone at SeaWorld). When he heard Aubrey apologize, Jesse let out the breath he'd been holding in fear and his shoulders sagged in relief.<p>

After all that his best friend had done for him, Jesse felt without a doubt that Beca deserved closure from her time with the Bellas. They didn't have to be friends (although that would be a delightful bonus) but they all certainly needed to end that particular feud. Close a chapter of their past and move on or whatever. Jesse was just glad it didn't end with puke and/or Beca chucking kitchen knives all about the place. That could have gotten rather messy rather quickly.

As it was, Jesse was content. He and Benji's accidentally devious plan had turned out rather well, in the grand scheme of things.

* * *

><p>Aubrey and Beca sat at the kitchen counter, all assortment of breakfast foods laid out on the counter and table and two loaded plates in front of them. "So you live up in Seattle now?" Beca asked conversationally as she took a vicious bite out of her omelet.<p>

"Yeah," Aubrey responded after daintily wiping her mouth. "I just finished law school and got a job at a pretty large firm up there. It's not a partnership or anything, but it's certainly a start."

"Cool, cool," Beca nodded, continuing to eat happily. Aubrey took the natural lapse in conversation to look, really look, at the younger woman. LA had treated Beca well, Aubrey noted absently. The apartment was a huge clue as to Beca's success in the monetary definition, but Aubrey noticed the physical differences as well. Beca's previously pale-as-a-ghost skin had actually gained a little bit of color, not a lot, but enough to look like she spent a healthy amount of time outside. She had eased off the 'alternative' eyeliner and instead settled for a more sedate and simple look. She still obviously had a thing for plaid ,however. She looked good, which Aubrey would readily admit.

"So Los Angeles, huh?" Aubrey said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, Los Angeles," Beca agreed. "It's pretty amazing out here. Weather's nice, people are crazy, and there's music everywhere. Just my kind of place."

Aubrey smirked and couldn't resist the dig, "Yeah, you must fit right in with all the crazies."

"Oi," Beca protested. "No need for that blondie." Aubrey gave Beca a slight smirk, somewhat reminiscent of Beca's own favored facial expression.

"So what exactly do you do out here?" Aubrey asked curiously.

"Little bit of this, little bit of that," Beca answered evasively.

"Uh huh sure," Aubrey snorted in disbelief. "A little bit of this and a little bit of that doesn't get you an apartment like this."

"True," Beca conceded with a bob of her head. "I work downtown at a production studio and occasionally I do a club circuit or two."

"Damn," Aubrey whistled. "That's…. that's really impressive Beca."

"Thanks," Beca said almost shyly, her head ducked.

"She's being modest," a male voice from behind the two said. Both women looked over the shoulders to see Jesse scooping miscellaneous breakfast foods onto a plate and flopping down onto the third stool. "The midget tears it up downtown nearly every weekend. She just got back from a round out in Miami and a few months before that she was in New York. Don't let her awe-shucks routine fool you." Aubrey's eyes had widened considerably and she looked at the small brunette in a new light. Beca had tilted her head back up and was glaring at Jesse with flashing eyes.

"Was that really necessary?" she questioned icily, to which Jesse just grinned around his mouthful of food.

He did shrug, however, and said with a full mouth, "Eh, probably not. But it was pretty fun."

"Bitch," Beca mumbled.

"I might be," Jesse shot back, his mouth even more full than before. Aubrey leaned forward to rest her elbows on the counter and watch the two old friends bicker back and forth. Beca had just started calling Jesse an interesting name that would have a nun washing her mouth out with a power washer, when Aubrey cut back in.

"Jesse, do you work with Beca?" Both Jesse and Beca turned to look at Aubrey, whatever insanely creative name that was about to be unleashed dying on their respective tongues.

"Sometimes," Jesse answered. "It's been a while though. I work with movie producers, Beca works with artists."

Aubrey was about to ask more questions about both Beca and Jesse's lives and jobs when she was interrupted by a voice from the living room shouting, "For god's sake, shut up!" While Aubrey looked on in a completely baffled way, Beca and Jesse exchanged amused looks.

When it became apparent that neither Beca or Jesse was going to explain what was going on, Aubrey asked slowly, "Who was that?" "Just an old friend," Jesse said with a flippant wave of his hand. Aubrey surveyed the two of them with a cocked eyebrow. Oh hell yes, they were both in the mafia. Forget Beca being a producer, she was probably a hit man. Were there height requirements to be a hit man?

"Old? Do I look old to you?" the voice from the living room snapped though it was now noticeably closer now. "Ungrateful swine." Aubrey snorted at the mysterious voice's choice of insult. She turned around to compliment the person and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Now where's the food?" Kat asked through a jaw-popping yawn. Beca gestured behind her and Kat shuffled to the counter and stove. Aubrey followed the black haired beauty that was Kat Daniels with her jaw practically on the ground. "So are you actually planning on going into the studio today?" Kat asked Beca as she loaded up a plate.

"Probably not," Beca replied, getting up off her stool to make room for Kat to sit down and eat. Beca moved to lean back against the counter, her arms folded comfortably over her chest. "Sid's managed to survive two and a half months without me, I'm sure he can last a couple more days."

"That or he'll kill you," Kat pointed out. Beca just shrugged. Aubrey couldn't help but watch the interaction back and forth in absolute awe. Finally, Kat seemed to realize that there was someone sitting at the counter that she didn't know. With no amount of fanfare, Kat pushed Jesse's sputtering face down into his plate of food with one hand and stretched the other out in front of Aubrey. The blonde woman hesitated for a moment before thankfully her business instincts kicked in before she could embarrass herself further and she grasped the proffered hand.

"Kat Daniels," Kat introduced herself.

"Aubrey Posen," Aubrey replied, grateful she was able to withhold most of the awe from her voice.

"Posen?" Kat's brow furrowed at the name. Ignoring Aubrey's quizzical look, she turned to Beca and said pointedly, "She doesn't look nearly as uptight as you described."

Beca chuckled slightly and lazily explained, "Five years does wonders apparently."

"Apparently," Kat mocked with an eye roll. Kat swiveled in the stool until she was once again facing Aubrey.

She pushed Jesse into his plate once again to make eye contact with the other woman and asked bluntly, "Do you have embarrassing stories about the twerp from college?"

"Uh… yeah?" Aubrey answered, unsure how that had become a topic of conversation.

"Good. Spill," Kat demanded. And just like that Aubrey Posen found herself sharing college tales with an international pop star in the apartment of her once-nemesis and now at-least-acquaintance with said acquaintance cooking a mouthwatering breakfast. Yeah, Beca had hit the nail on the head. Five years really did do wonders.

As Aubrey was laughing at a story Kat was telling about a rather drunk Beca and her PR manager, all conversation was suddenly interrupted by a war cry. "UP AND AT 'EM ACA-BITCHES!" reverberated through the apartment.

It would appear that the rest of the Bellas were finally waking up.

_Do you remember,  
>All the fun times we had?<br>Do you remembered,  
>All the fun times we had?<br>Let's bring it back, oh  
>So long since you've been missing<br>It's good to see you again  
>How are you, how you doin?<em>

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><p><strong>So yeah, this one is short, but I plan to hopefully get another chapter out at the start of the week, so watch out for that. Thoughts?<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**I own nothing, not Pitch Perfect and not Christina Peri's _Arms_ **

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><p>It sounded stupid, but Beca had to admit that once she realized that Aubrey no longer wanted to strangle her with her own headphone cords, she relaxed around the older woman and enjoyed her presence. Although, remembering Aubrey, maybe it wasn't so stupid. The conversations between the old Barden alumni and the pop star in her kitchen were flowing easily and both Aubrey and Kat delighted in telling each other whatever embarrassing story of Beca they could remember. And FYI, there was a significant amount of them.<p>

Kat was in the middle of retelling the story of how Beca first met her Public Relations expert (hint: Tequila. LOOOOOOTS of tequila) when a loud shout echoed through her apartment. It didn't take a genius or even someone who had talked to Fat Amy in the past five years to know that she had woken up and decided to shout, "UP AND AT 'EM ACA-BITCHES!" as a wakeup call to the other poor, unfortunate Bellas.

While Aubrey winced slightly at the volume and how uncomfortable it had to be to wake up to that, the others didn't seem as fazed. This was the second time that Aubrey had seen Beca not even blink at loud noises or strange people and she had to admit, it was odd. Back at Barden, when Beca's headphones were actually around her neck and not her ears she used to jump at every little sound and touch. She still seemed adamant on her 'No touching the bad ass' rule, however she didn't start at anything. Aubrey even had a sneaking suspicion that a car could drive through her apartment wall and Beca would just blink and start cursing out the driver without missing a beat.

Distantly, she wondered what exactly had changed, but she held out on asking the other woman out of respect. After all, Beca had just taken Round 1 of re-meeting the Barden Bellas and now had to handle the rest of the squad. Aubrey wished she could offer Beca some words of wisdom on how everything was going to be okay, but she came up with nothing. They didn't really teach you how to handle unexpected college reunions in law school.

As such, Aubrey just pursed her lips, leaned forward onto the counter and kept right on talking with Kat in a vain attempt to distract herself from what was about to come. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the furtive glances that Jesse shot both her and Beca, but she paid them no mind. She just focused on the sound of Kat's voice and let it calm her down.

"So by the end of the night, there the two of them were," Kat plowed right on through her story, either not knowing or not caring about the sudden tension that had enveloped the room. "Beca's got on a t-shirt that's like an XXL and hangs down past her knees and no pants and Tessa was running around in nothing but her sports bra and jeans, somehow both of their left shoes ended up tossed in a fountain, Tessa was hanging upside down from the chandelier, and there were two goats and a chicken in the corner booth. To this day, any time Jim the bartender even sees the two of them together he hides the hard stuff and will only serve them watered down appletinis and the Mexican woman down the street makes what looks like a devil sign at Beca."

Aubrey couldn't stop laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to get her giggles under control and to stop wracking her body. Kat was leaning forward on the counter opposite Beca who was full on laughing. No, it wasn't the first time Kat had told someone the story of her and Tessa's first meeting, but it was one of those things that never really got old.

"You should tell her the one where we ended up stranded in Canada," Beca advised her dark-haired friend.

Before Kat could start, however, Fat Amy strolled into the kitchen. She took one look around and calmly walked forward before full on slapping Beca across the face. Beca gave a surprised yelp that sounded suspiciously like, "Fuck!" and she stumbled away quickly from the large Aussie.

"Amy!" Aubrey gasped, her laughter quickly stopping as Beca was, for lack of a better term, assaulted by Amy.

"Are you okay Captain?" Amy asked, using her sarcastic nickname for Aubrey, but her tone full of genuine concern.

"What?" Aubrey stuttered in disbelief. Amy had just full on bitch-slapped Beca in her own home and she was asking if Aubrey was alright? "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Amy's face scrunched up and she declared, "Because I saw you crying. Clearly I had to defend your honor against this evil midget fucker." Beca didn't even have the chance to snort at the nickname Amy had given her as she was too busy moving her jaw around in an attempt to gauge if anything was broken. Aubrey couldn't help but bark out a laugh when she heard Amy's reasoning, though she did feel slightly bad when Beca shot her a glare. The area that Amy's hand had connected with was already turning an angry red.

"Amy, I was laughing," Aubrey said by way of an explanation, hoping that the Aussie would refrain from any more violent tendencies.

"Really? You can laugh?" Amy asked in a dead serious voice. "Are you sure?" Aubrey rolled her eyes and didn't dignify that with a response.

"Dang shorty," Kat whistled from where she'd let the drama unfold (not the first time she'd seen someone get slapped, though usually it was Beca doing the slapping. For someone so small, the woman had a hell of a right hook). "She clocked you didn't she?"

"Shut up," Beca mumbled as she moved over to the fridge and slapped a bag of frozen vegetables on her cheek in a vain attempt to keep the redness from excessively spreading. "Next time you get punched."

"Nope," Kat shook her head and happily popped the 'p'. "That was a slap so you still have to take the next punch. I took the last one from that one deranged fan in Phoenix."

"Yeah but I took two in Munich," Beca pointed out, her eyes closed in the bliss provided by what she thought were frozen peas. However, Beca despised peas in every form so she wasn't exactly sure why she'd even have the stupid food in her freezer, but hey, they worked.

While Kat and Beca were bickering over whose turn it was to get assaulted (it happened more than one would think), Aubrey was trying to patiently explain to Amy that she was not, in fact, crying and that she could, surprisingly, laugh. To Aubrey's ire, Amy seemed to be more dubious on the second fact than the first one. Somewhere along the line, Amy became (rather belatedly) curious as to who exactly she'd just slapped over her captain's honor. She strode over until she towered (damn did everyone but Beca grow since she last saw them?) over the small brunette woman and offered her hand.

"My name is Fat Amy, sorry about slapping you," Fat Amy said bluntly. Beca smirked and shook the larger woman's hand while vaguely hearing Kat sputter in indignation behind her.

Finally, the pop star was able to get out, "You call yourself Fat Amy?"

"Yeah," Amy started to elaborate but Beca cut her off.

"She does it so twig bitches like us don't call her it behind her back," she said, her half-smirk becoming a full blown one. Fat Amy's eyes flew open wide and then narrowed in concentration as she studied the small brunette, trying to remember where exactly she'd seen the woman before.

Suddenly her eyes were opened wide again and she was gasping, "Shawshank?"

Beca grinned crookedly and asked, "What's up nerd?" If the smirk and stature weren't enough, the nickname was.

"You skinny bitch!" Fat Amy all but roared and she moved forward to envelope the shorter woman in a hug.

"Hello… yes… delightful to see you too… Amy, release me please. I can't breathe. RELEASE!" Fat Amy gave the small figure one last bone-crunching squeeze before finally setting the girl back on her feet. "Thank you," Beca wheezed slightly. She slapped the bag of frozen peas back over the red slap mark and leaned back to appraise Fat Amy. The woman had changed very little since college, and by very little, Beca meant she couldn't see a damn thing different. It was actually a little eerie.

"What's up with you flat butt?" Fat Amy asked happily as if she hadn't just all but laid the brunette DJ out on the floor and then squeezed the living day lights out of her.

Beca chuckled slightly and she responded easily, "Not much Amy, not much."

"Bullshit," the larger woman said bluntly. Beca quirked an eyebrow at the remarkable similarities between Aubrey and Amy's responses to the question of what she'd been up to in the past five years. For some reason, she just wasn't convincing enough. She'd have to work on that.

"Ah, little bit of this and little bit of that," Beca tried to use the same excuse she had used on Aubrey. And just like with Aubrey, she got a disbelieving snort as an answer.

However, before Amy could loudly and no doubly rudely call Beca on her lie, she was interrupted by a rather sensuous voice rasping in Beca's ear, "Hi there." Beca's gaze swept up and over her shoulder and made eye to scantily-clad-chest-area contact with Stacie Conrad. "I'm Stacie. What's a little hottie like you doing in here?" Beca smirked and didn't respond. Fortunately, she didn't really have to. It was at that moment that more of the Bellas decided to make an appearance. Cynthia-Rose, Jessica, Denise, and Ashley were all standing blearily in her kitchen and Beca wasn't really sure how to handle that.

"Stacie, stop molesting strangers," Cynthia-Rose chastised her girlfriend gently. Stacie smiled apologetically and moved over to wrap around Cynthia-Rose's form, much preferring to molest her girlfriend on any given day. Beca hiked an eyebrow sky high at the word girlfriend and shot a somewhat accusing glance at Aubrey as if to say, 'And you didn't mention this why?' Aubrey just shrugged unapologetically. The various relationships of the Bellas hadn't really been at the forefront of her mind that morning. "Sorry about that, she can't really help herself," Cynthia-Rose apologized for Stacie who just smiled unashamed. "But who are you exactly?"

Before Aubrey or Beca could come up with a witty retort (Beca actually had more than just a few floating around on the tip of her tongue), Fat Amy, who had found the food, said, "It's flat butt!" However, since she'd shoved what looked like an entire half an orange into her mouth, it sounded more like, "Ighhm flahh bahh."

"What?" Denise asked with a confused expression on her face. Fat Amy gave a disgruntled grunt and started trying to chew her way through the orange so she could actually answer the question. Halfway through, Lily walked into the kitchen fully dressed.

"Hello Beca," she said at a normal volume as she moved past the tiny DJ to where Amy was standing by the never ending food. All of the Bellas, sans Lily, were in varying states of shock. Aubrey couldn't believe that Lily had recognized Beca in an instant and hadn't even looked twice. Amy was in shock that Lily had had the audacity to snag a slice of fruit from her plate. Stacie was in awe of how hot the pipsqueak bad ass of their college days had become. Cynthia-Rose, Denise, Jessica, and Ashley were all astounded to learn just who was cooking in the kitchen. And Beca was just surprised that everyone else could finally hear Lily.

Beca recovered from her stupor first, only having been thrown for a few seconds, and she flashed her signature smirk, "Hey Lily." Lily gave a short nod of acknowledgment and went back to selecting from her many food options.

"Holy shit shortie you're kind of hot!" Annnnnd Stacie was back. Stacie's offhand comment apparently broke the rest of the Bellas out of their dazes because as one they were all trying to talk to her. Beca was surprised to learn that they weren't shouting, yelling, or accusing her (although after Aubrey's reaction she was slightly less surprised).

From what she could gleam from all the voices at once, and she'd gotten pretty good at it from work, most of what they were saying fell into 4 categories. 1. How have you been? 2. What are you doing out in LA? 3. When did you get so hot? 4. I'm sorry. Beca laughed at the women, they really hadn't changed a lot, and did her best to answer as many questions as she could. "I've been good. I live out here. I wasn't actually aware that I got any hotter. And it's all good, I'm sorry too."

For the next twenty or so minutes, the majority of the Bellas and Beca caught up, Beca asking most of the questions, seeing as she had five years of small talk to make up for. It took Beca awhile, and by awhile she meant about twenty seconds, to notice that a certain bubbly redhead was noticeably absent from the mass of aca-nerds. However, when no one else mentioned it, Beca did her best to put Chloe out of her mind, even though it was basically an impossibility at this point.

While she had dreaded meeting the Bellas and Aubrey, she hadn't been overly close with any of them. She certainly wouldn't say they were friends. Maybe acquaintances. Or whatever the hell was halfway between acquaintances and friends. However, Chloe had been dead on with her prediction that they would become 'fast friends'. Outside of Jesse and Benji, Chloe had easily been one of Beca's best friends. It didn't happen as often as it used to, but every now and then when she would catch a glimpse of bright red hair in a coffee shop and she'd be immediately taken back to textbooks, lattes, and baby blue Princess eyes.

* * *

><p>Aubrey noticed Beca looking around the other Bellas from time to time as they talked and swapped life stories. She was clearly looking for someone and Aubrey had a damn good guess as to whom. While the others were still talking, Aubrey stood up from her stool and slipped out of the kitchen and back towards the bedrooms. If she'd glanced back over her shoulder at the gathered girls, she'd have seen a pair of pale blue eyes following her every move.<p>

* * *

><p>Jesse watched Aubrey disengage from the group of girls out of the corner of his eye. What was far more interesting, however, was the fact that he wasn't the only one that was watching the blonde. Seated next to him on Beca's (apparently) ten thousand dollar couch was a pale-eyed pop star that was tracking Aubrey's every move.<p>

* * *

><p>As soon as Kat had heard the stampede of the rest of the Bellas down the hall way, she'd surrendered her bar stool and moved over to where Jesse was slumped sleepily on the couch. She'd kept a wary eye on the Australian, still not 100% sure of her intentions after she slapped one of her best friends, but had stayed out of the way as she let them all get reacquainted.<p>

However, her eyes kept straying to one ex-Bella in particular. Kat liked Aubrey, she was fun to talk to and despite the stories that Beca had relayed to her, the blonde seemed like a rather easy person to get along with. The fact that the blonde was also a bit of an old styles music aficionado was just an additional bonus. While Beca had wicked music taste, she also tended to gravitate towards alternative and club hits while Kat was firmly in the pop and 90s era. It was just the way she was and apparently also the way that Aubrey was.

As such, Kat found herself naturally gravitating towards the taller blonde and her eyes following Aubrey as she left the room. When Aubrey emerged a few minutes later and slipped back into the fray of women like she'd never left, Kat found her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Her eyes only got narrower when Aubrey suggested that all the Bellas go back to the bedrooms and get prepared for the day. The Bellas looked skeptical of Aubrey's intentions, but the no-nonsense voice she'd used and the sharp glare had all protests dying down quickly and the women all moving to follow her suggestion (more like order).

Kat was about to stand up and confront the ex-Bella captain on behalf of her best friend, when suddenly out of the master bedroom came a red blur. The blur, which turned out to be a tall redheaded woman, skidded to a stop in the kitchen. The woman's back was to Kat but in the dead silence of the apartment, Kat could clearly hear the woman gasp, "Beca?"

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><p>Beca saw Aubrey sneak off but honestly thought nothing of it. She wasn't even especially concerned when the blonde reappeared and all but demanded that all of the Bellas, who she'd been chatting with, go get dressed and ready for the day. Knowing Aubrey, she probably had a schedule and time table planned out down to every last mili-second.<p>

However, when there was a thump from somewhere in the back of the apartment and suddenly there was a flurry of activity in front of her, Beca soon began to feel some semblance of alarm. Not a lot, because hey, not much could truly startle her after Manny had hidden that case of Roman fireworks underneath her desk chair last Fourth of July, but a little. No, it wasn't the how but rather the who that had all the air knocked out of her lungs.

"Beca?" Chloe Beale, in all her ginger glory, breathed in disbelief. Beca felt her eyes go wide as she looked at Chloe. Yeah, logically she knew that since the Bellas were having a reunion, it only made sense that Chloe would be an integral part of that. But damn did seeing her long-ago crush really just throw the DJ for a loop. Even though she had clearly just woken up, Chloe was as breathtaking as Beca remembered. She had the same flawless skin, same wavy red hair, but her eyes. Holy shit her eyes. Beca's memories did those baby blues absolutely no justice.

"Chloe," Beca couldn't help but breathe right back at the older woman.

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><p>Chloe stared in confusion at the foreign ceiling, blinking every now and then. It took her a few moments to remember where exactly she was and how in the hell she got there, but once she was acclimated with her surroundings, she shuffled to snuggle further down into the blankets of the bed she was in. as she shifted around, she heard a soft crinkle and a slightly pointy piece of paper digging into her stomach. With a whiny groan, she blindly flung her hand around the center of the blanket, finally finding the offending paper after more than a few tries.<p>

She grumbled as she readjusted herself and squinted at the small scrap, her eyes taking a few moments to register what exactly was written on the paper (and honestly, reading this early? Someone was truly evil…) and several moments longer to try and register what was written on it. 'It's Beca's apartment.' Yes, Chloe remembered Beca, no one could just forget Beca Mitchell, but what did she have to do with anything? And what about her apartment?

It took Chloe a lot longer than she'd like to admit, but when she finally put the pieces together, she sprung out of the bed and made a mad dash for the kitchen. She didn't care that she'd just woken up, that she was only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of short shorts and that her hair was probably a wreck. All she cared about was finding out if what Aubrey had written was true.

She barely registered the looks on the Bellas' faces as she rushed past them in the hallway because then she was at the kitchen. In the kitchen and face to face with her. Her. Her chocolate brown hair fell past her shoulders in lazy brown curls, just like Chloe remembered. Her face was slightly more angular than when Chloe had last seen her, but it still had that gorgeous and striking quality about it. But her eyes. Oh lord above help her, because Beca Mitchell's eyes were even more captivating than Chloe remembered.

"Beca?" Chloe faintly heard herself gasp as she counted drinking in the appearance of the other woman. Surprisingly, it appeared that Beca was doing the same.

Beca gave her a lopsided smile that could have melted any stone heart and said nearly reverently, "Chloe."

And then Chloe was moving, her body reacting before her mind did. All it took were three short strides and Chloe Beale's arms were wrapped solidly around Beca Mitchell like she never wanted to let go and clutching to her for dear life. To Chloe's surprise, Beca didn't hesitate to reciprocate with a squeeze of her own and to nestle her forehead in the bend of Chloe's neck and shoulder. And Chloe knew that she'd have to say something eventually, apologize for that night five years ago, but for now she was content to just hold Beca and have Beca hold her like everything was finally right in her universe.

_I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart  
>But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start<em>

_You put your arms around me  
>And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go<br>You put your arms around me and I'm home_

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><p><strong>And we have contact! That one wasn't too much of a cliffhanger now was it? <span>Evangeline Kathrine<span> reviewed that she thought she sensed some Kat/Aubrey going on and that wasn't even sort of my intention when I first wrote Kat in, but it intrigued me. I kind of like it too. Let me know what you thought!**

**Additionalyt, I'm thinking of doing like a companion series of one-shots or something like that of these characters based off of texts from .com (they're hilarious and I can totally see these characters doing stuff like that). So it'd be something like this:**

Tessa: Tonight, tonight is the night that I conquer tequila!

Beca: I've got a meeting at 8:30 tomorrow morning and therefore will not be bailing you out of the drunk tank

Tessa: … Hoe…

**But fleshed out into an actual story line. Thoughts?**

**And hey, thanks for sticking with me for so long ****J**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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><p>"Dude do you see the speed ginger went flying out of here?"<p>

"I know, right? It was like someone told her there was cheesecake at the other end or something."

"Really Amy, cheesecake? Why not something practical, like a strap-on or something?"

"Well excuse me for wanting-" "Can we not, please and instead focus on the fact that Red and the DJ are probably having steamy make-up sex in the kitchen right now?"

"NOT THE KITCHEN! What if they get nasty ass on the food?"

"Really, can you guys just shut up?"

"Do you think they'd let me watch?"

"Stacie you are one twisted chicka."

"… So is that a 'No'?"

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><p>Chloe tightened her arms; her head bowed down to have her chin tucked overtop the smaller girl's head. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she didn't want to move. She probably would have stayed that way for the rest of eternity had she been given the chance, but eventually she felt the smaller woman shift around slightly in her arms and she reluctantly pulled away.<p>

She bit her lip and for the first time appraised the young DJ. Her eyes did a leisurely sweep of the small DJ's body and she found her mouth curling up into an unbidden smile. Yeah, Beca was hot, but she'd always been hot. It was just sort of a thing that was generally understood about her. She was sarcastic, she lived and breathed music, and she was drop-dead gorgeous. Just another day in the life of the DJ. But something was different.

It wasn't that Beca was any more confident, she'd definitely always had that natural swagger. It also wasn't the fact that she'd changed anything about her appearance, although Chloe though she saw the faintest edge of a tattoo that definitely hadn't been there at the time of their shower encounter (yes she'd looked. Extensively). No, something else was different about the girl and damn Chloe would be thrilled to spend the rest of her life trying to figure it out.

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><p>Kat felt like groaning and hitting herself in the head with a frying pan. No, she took that back. She felt like hitting her friend in the head with a frying pan. And yet, Kat could in all honesty say that she had never seen Beca look at someone the way she was looking at the redhead in front of her right now. Beca was looking at the woman like she was the universe's best kept secret. While Kat could in all honesty say that the woman was quite attractive, she was so far from Beca's type that it was almost funny.<p>

In all of the time that Kat had known her best friend, Beca had been more of the type to, for lack of a less insensitive description, hump and dump. It was just a facet of the smaller girl's personality. And one look at the redhead and Kat could just tell that this was one of those relationship-y girls. The type that you couldn't help falling in love with. Kat felt all the red flags go up, like hell she was going to let her friend get hurt.

Step 1 to making sure that adorable little dumbass got her head out of her ass and more importantly her eyes off the redhead: figure out whose limbs were whose.

Kat cleared her throat pointedly and cheered internally when both the women seemed to snap out of whatever daze they were in and jumped apart. "Right," Beca said awkwardly, clasping her hands in front of her. "Kat this is an old friend of mine from college, Chloe Beale. Chloe, this is one of my best friends, Kat." Chloe smiled at Kat, her eyes slightly narrowed as she examined Kat's face. Kat recognized the look instantly as one where the person recognized her face but not her name.

"Nice to meet you," Chloe said anyway, her hand stretched amicably in front of her and a dazzling, sincere smile on her face. Well shit. Why couldn't she have been a bitch and made hating her easier? Damn Beca and her not horrible taste in women with killer smiles!

"You too," Kat replied guardedly as she reached to shake the ginger's hand. One nice smile did not a non-heartbreaker make. Until otherwise proven, Chloe Beale would be treated as the woman who could put Kat's best friend's heart (or what was left of it) through a meat grinder. As Kat was glancing away from the two women, her eyes were drawn to the clock on the oven. "Aw crap!" she exclaimed as she all but exploded in a flurry of activity. "Didn't you have to go see Sid and Manny today?"

"Yeah," Beca's eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed obviously confused by the change in topic. "Why?"

"Well it's already 8:30…" Beca eyes widened comically and her head automatically snapped over to the clock. The curse she spat was certainly more creative than the one Kat had just spouted and soon she was moving frantically with a well-practiced ease.

"Sorry guys," she looked apologetically at the Bellas. "I've got meetings all today. I'll see when I can get back. Until then, what's mine is yours, just please stay out of the locked bedroom. Uh… here's my number," Beca reached into a drawer and quickly scrawled some digits on a post it note and all but chucked the pad of paper at Chloe. "Call if you need anything. And if one of you could maybe let Teddy out some time today, that'd be great. Thanks!" And with that, Beca snagged a pair of car keys off the hooks by the door and was gone. The Bellas all blinked in shock at the sudden appearance and then disappearance of their former pint-sized alto.

"What the fuck?" Stacie asked when it became obvious no one else was going to say something. No one answered but Aubrey looked at her best friend in concern. Chloe hadn't really moved from her spot, her eyes trained on the front door as if wishing for it to swing back open. Like if she stared at it long enough, the DJ would burst back in. Back to her. Aubrey took the initiative, clearly sensing that Chloe was getting close to her breaking point (years of violent upchucking and friendship were very useful in this instance). She strode over to where Chloe was standing numbly and she rested her hand comfortingly on the redhead's shoulder.

"She'll come back, Chlo," Aubrey said softly, though in the stunned silence of the apartment she may as well have been shouting. For the first time since Beca had run out the door, Chloe twisted her neck to make eye contact with Aubrey.

Her voice cracked as she whispered, "But what if she doesn't?"

Aubrey sighed and said, "You just have to believe that she will." Only Aubrey was really aware of the emotional torture Beca had left Chloe with when she split town. The other Bellas had an inkling and had all felt the same sort of despair that Chloe had, just not on the level that she did. Aubrey had watched as the little munchkin had destroyed her best friend without even knowing it.

"Of course she's coming back," the black-haired pop star they had all evidently forgotten about snorted. "It's her apartment." Aubrey shot the girl a look for her blunt statement but it seemed to be what Chloe needed to hear as she sniffled and gave a half-hearted chuckle.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up," she murmured to Aubrey and then she shuffled out of the kitchen. The rest of the Bellas all mumbled something that sounded very similar and one by one they drifted off to the various bedrooms they'd crashed in to get ready for the day.

Aubrey shook her head at the mess the group of women had left in Beca's kitchen and rolled her sleeves up to get to work. She heard Kat walk over and help ease dishes into the sink where Aubrey made quick work of scraping the extra food off and loading the dish washer. They worked in an odd companionable silence that was more comfortable than it should have been considering they just met a couple hours earlier.

"So what's up with the ginger?" Kat finally asked as Aubrey was wiping down the counter. Aubrey's lips quirked into a smile as she had been waiting for the pop star to get around to asking that but they quickly fell back into a thoughtful frown. She wracked her brain trying to find the best starting point and coming up with few options. Evidently, she was going to have to go back to the beginning as she didn't know how much Kat knew.

"You know that Beca went to college at Barden with us right?"

"Yeah," Kat nodded. She slipped onto one of the stools at the counter and observed Aubrey who continued cleaning the already spot-less countertop. "She was in some singing group, there was a fall out, and then she came out here."

"Yes," Aubrey nodded, both relieved that she wouldn't have to recount one of her worst moments and yet at the same time a little disappointed that Kat had heard about how much of a bitch she'd been. "And we don't blame Beca for leaving, we really don't, but when she left, she tore Chloe apart. Chloe loved her more than anything and one day Beca was just gone."

Kat couldn't stop her eyebrow from quirking and asking, "Really, Beca did that? Because you do realize the girl is about as loveable as a barracuda right?" Aubrey snorted at the description and she smiled wryly.

"Trust me," she said with a sigh. "Chloe was head over heels for the alt-girl. Ever since we first met where your friend made a less than a stellar first impression, all she could talk about was how 'cool' and 'funny' and 'hot' she was." Aubrey rolled her eyes at the end of her description and accented each adjective with little finger gestures.

"So what happened?" Kat asked curiously. Aubrey sighed again and she finally gave up wiping down the counter that didn't need wiping down. She leaned forward against the counter and clasped her hands together.

"Beca left," she said bluntly and bitterly. Kat opened her mouth to argue when Aubrey held up a hand and silenced her. "I said I didn't blame her for leaving. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive her for devastating Chloe the way that she did. She stopped leaving the apartment, she stopped singing, hell she stopped smiling. It took a long time, a lot of crying, ice cream, and Project Runway marathons to get my best friend back and even now she has a hard time getting into any sort of relationship. She thinks I'm too wrapped in my own drama to notice but I've kept tabs on her and I don't think she's mentioned a serious relationship for a solid two years."

Kat winced in sympathy. That sucked on several levels. But still… to think that her emotionally stunted best friend, the one who couldn't tell if someone was upset if they were wearing a sign around their neck proclaiming their displeasure, who one time ignored an entire room full of flirting Victoria's Secret models, who… you know what, it actually kind of made sense. Beca, while wonderful, tended to be a bit… well a lot, dense. It was one of those endearing qualities about the girl. However, while to her friends, Beca's obliviousness was amusing, to those who were attempting to get her attention it was extremely frustrating. And her pint-size pal had certainly left a trail of broken hearts, whether it be artists who just didn't make the cut to would-be significant others. Beca just didn't notice, and if she did, she just didn't care.

"Well… on that depressing note," Kat's upbeat tone took Aubrey by surprise. "You and your lot are now stuck here in LA with my sexy self and seeing as the pipsqueak is currently indisposed with the PR people who are probably going to go over every second of her stay in Miami and Sid is going to be chewing her out for extending her business trip for so long. So she's not getting out of anything anytime soon. And as the friend of the host, it is my duty and general pleasure to take you all on a trip around LA."

"You're going to be our tour guide?" Aubrey asked with a chuckle and a grin.

Kat smirked back and said, "I've even been practicing walking backwards just for you all." Aubrey smiled sincerely at Kat who responded in like.

"Well isn't this touching," they heard a groggy Jesse say snarkily. "Am I allowed to come or will my vocal chords be ripped out by wolves?" Aubrey flushed at the mention of the oath, no doubt passed along by Beca, while Kat just looked confused.

"Okaaaay," Kat drew the word out in bafflement when it became evident there was some sort of backstory she was unaware of judging by Jesse's smirk and Aubrey's blush. "Don't you have a hot date with Tara?"

"Nah," Jesse stretched and itched at his stomach. "She's locked in meetings the whole day. Something about a DJ gone awry and Miami." Kat and Jesse smirked, leaving Aubrey as the one confused this time but she shook it off.

"Get your khakis choir boy, we've got some sight-seeing to facilitate."

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><p>"What the hell were you thinking? You were supposed to be home months ago Mitchell. Moths!" Sid had been bitching to Beca for a solid hour and a half about her decision to stay cooped up in Miami. While originally he had been okay with the extension, the fact of the matter remained that any time CC Hale was at the turn-styles, TS Records was cashing in while at the same time Beca Mitchell was working in production, they were making just as much. But while Beca had been getting some R&amp;R out in Florida, TSR had had to turn down numerous invites from around the world and from artists inquiring about her skill.<p>

"Berlin! Hong Kong! Montreal! Paris! London! I had to turn them all down Beca and the pay days were in the six and seven digit figures Beca!" Beca rolled her eyes. She was done with getting chewed out.

"Come off it Sid. You know we probably weren't going to accept any of those jobs. I needed that break and you know it. I'm sorry I let it go as long as I did and that wasn't fair to you guys but I was going stir crazy here. I needed an out and I found one that still sent back a pretty paycheck with more than enough 0s for everyone to be happy. We got an exclusive deal with Ethan Powell who is so beyond psyched to do a song with yours truly, by the way, that he's flying in next week to start collaborating. Plus Tara has to be over the moon with all the positive PR I generated out there. Hell, I even managed to keep it in my pants for the last month. Get over it."

Sid met and held Beca's gaze with a glare. His brown eyes were steely and glinting in the soft light of his personal office. For a few more heartbeats the staring contest endured before he broke it off with a chuckle and a smile.

"That you did kid. Nice job." Beca smirked back, glad that Sid was off her back. While Sid was technically only her boss half the time, she enjoyed the easy going relationship they had and would hate to jeopardize it over something stupid like a business trip for her boss the other half of the time.

"So now that we're past me screaming myself hoarse at your dumb ass," Sid said with a wicked grin as he reached down into the hidden mini fridge (Beca knew for a fact that the two bottom drawers on the right side of his desk were faux and concealed the door to his hidden snack haven) and tossed Beca a bottle of water. He took a gulp from his own bottle and leaned back in his chair. "Tell me all about Miami and Powell. You think you'll be able to work with him successfully?"

"Definitely," Beca said in a strong voice. "He's got a certain style and flair but he's not so established that we can't tweak him and adjust some of his minor flaws. Plus he's got so much charisma it's hard not to like the guy."

Sid nodded once. If Beca said that Ethan was good, he was good. Beca didn't sugarcoat or bullshit. The first time she had told him that one of his artists was a piece of shit, he'd ignored her. Two months later and the man was in the tabloids for a drunk and disorderly and a domestic violence charge. That was the first and last time Sid had ever doubted Beca's ability to read someone.

While technically Manny was the boss and director of recruiting, he managed the DJ-ing side of TSR while Sid worked more exclusively with the already established artists who maybe just wanted a track with one of their permanent in house contracts. Some of the biggest currently with TSR was Max Travesty, a pop singer who had been compared with Justin Timberlake on numerous occasions, Kat Daniels who was quickly becoming America's sexy sweetheart, and CC Hale who took mysterious to a whole new level. As such, all three had people clamoring to work with them at all times of the year and even though it was only a couple days past Christmas, today was no different.

"I know you've got first priority on Ethan Powell, but take a look through your offers, let me know if any of them stand out to you," Sid said as he forked a positively massive stack of files. Apparently he'd been saving every invoice and request for CC Hale for the past two months and was now getting his revenge. His somewhat diabolical smirk did nothing to dispel that illusion. "Oh, and both Tara and Manny wanted to see you before you leave tonight."

Beca groaned. When your other boss and your PR agent both wanted to talk, you weren't getting any sleep any time soon. She had a feeling it was going to be a very long day.

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><p><strong>So it's been a veeeeeery long time since I updated last. And I'm sorry. At some point in a story you know when you've reached the end and that you just can't continue writing it. I want you all to know that we are NOT at the point yet. I just got a little side-tracked by life and a new job. I can't guarantee that my updates will be regular or have any sort of rhyme or reason but I promise I'll try and never go as long without updating as I did. Sorry again and thanks for sticking with me so long. <strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**I don't own Pitch Perfect**

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Beca groaned pitifully. "I can't go on. No more, no more please," she begged though her voice was muffled by the wood of the table.

"Not on your life," Sid laughed though it sounded suspiciously like a cackle. "I've had to deal with your disappearance for two months. This is payback bitch." Beca groaned again but compliantly propped her head up so her chin was resting on the table and she looked upwards at Sid.

"What's next you hell-crawler?"

"I actually don't have anything else for you," Sid admitted with a sheepish smile. Beca sprung up out, her chair falling back and clattering to the ground, with her fists in the air and yelping triumphantly. "But last I heard Manny was waiting for you up in his office."

The shout of triumph died on Beca's lips and she muttered, "Damn." Sid just smirked and watched his lead producer trudge out of his office with her feet dragging. Yeah, revenge was sweet.

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It had taken the Bellas a significantly longer time to get everyone ready and out the door than Kat had expected, but eventually everyone was ready to go. "Alrighty Bellas!" Kat exclaimed gleefully with a clap of her hands. "My name is Kat Daniels and I, along with Jesse 'Drool Bucket' Swanson, will be your tour guide today. We will be taking you on a glorious tour of downtown LA. Any and all questions and complaints shall be directed towards Swanson while I will graciously be accepting all compliments. Any questions? No? Good. Let's go!"

While anyone else would probably have been a little off-put by Kat's brash attitude, the Bellas were all completely unfazed. Of course, considering they had been dealing with Fat Amy's rather… unique brand of humor and metaphors for years, it really shouldn't have been all that astounding. During the cramped ride down to the parking structure in the apartment building's elevator, the Bellas were all quickly divided into two groups. Aubrey, Chloe, Fat Amy, and Stacie would ride with Kat while Lily, Jessica, Denisse, Ashley, and Cynthia Rose would be riding with Jesse. Kat noticed the curly-haired music producer looked relieved that Fat Amy wouldn't be in his car, although his face paled when he heard he'd be locked in a metal prison with Lily. Kat made a mental note to question someone about that later but right now wasn't really the time.

First, she was in charge of driving four highly inquisitive (read NOSY) ex-collegiate singing nerds around her hometown. She had a gut feeling that a large part of her tour of the Los Angele area was going to revolve around the a cappella version of the Spanish Inquisition. Her instincts were proven correct when as soon as she turned the key in the ignition. Stacie, who was in the backseat, looked at Kat and asked flippantly, "So are you and Beca screwing each other's brains out?" Yep. This was going to be an interesting day.

Kat quirked an eyebrow as she navigated her way out of the parking garage and said, "Not even while drunk. I'm straight." Although her eyes were trained on the road as she attempted to merge into the street traffic, she could feel Stacie's laser eyes staring a hole through her head.

"Yeah alright, I can see it," Stacie finally said.

Before she could ask a different, though probably just as inappropriate question, Fat Amy broke in. "So how did you and Shaw shank meet?"

"Shaw shank?" Kat asked curiously.

Fat Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, Beca, how did you meet her?"

"You call Beca Shaw shank? Tiny little Beca?" Kat asked with a snort. Although she had heard stories from Jesse, Benji, and Manny about Beca's capabilities of defending herself, she had never seen the 'Million Dollar Baby' right hook that Jesse praised every time they were accosted by an overly-intoxicated bar patron. Frankly it was just one of many hazards Beca endured in her profession of choice.

"Oh yeah," Fat Amy bobbed her head eagerly. "The night of my first ever fantastic solo debut, I was about to waste a washed up dingo-humper with a 'borrowed' trophy, and Shaw shank stepped up to deck them instead. She ended up slightly incarcerated. It's okay though, I'm like 40% sure that they didn't press charges." Kat couldn't help the boisterous laughter that slipped through her lips. While at some point in her ramblings Beca may have mentioned that particular incident, Kat couldn't recall having heard it before. With a wicked grin, she filed it away for future use. After all, you never know when you'll need another chunk of good, old-fashioned blackmail.

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Beca was overcome with a sudden sinking suspicion that Kat now knew something she shouldn't. Something damning to Beca's being. Something… blackmail-ey. Manny noticed the slight off-put expression on his favorite DJ's face and wrongly assumed that Beca was unhappy with the arrangement presented to her. He quickly started babbling that if Beca didn't want to have that particular rookie open for her, he'd have his schedule changed.

Beca waved her hand dismissively in the air. "I'm more than willing to give the kid a shot Manny," Beca said easily. While most DJs in her positon preferred to only have opening DJs that already had the experience to match, the reputation to bolster the headliner, or the money to pay their way to a stop slot, Beca was a little different. She always had been, probably always would be.

She had given a fair amount of rookies the shot to open for her. The way she saw it, TurnStyle Records had taken a hell of a chance on her, an unknown with barely any experience from Georgia, the least she could do was return the favor. Besides, this way she had direct access to some incredibly new talents. If she liked them, she was more than happy to offer some much-appreciated advice and buy them a lunch (something many under-paid DJs were extremely grateful for). If they didn't click, they were shuffled along on the TSR rotations. At least they had the chance to boast to other second-rate DJs that they had opened for her that one time.

Listening to Manny prattle on about how things were going back on the California side of the country, Beca was kind of shocked at how much she missed. Logically she knew she shouldn't be. While New York may be the city that never sleeps, Los Angeles was the city that never stopped creating. How could it, when a large part of its business and commerce was the movie and music industries? Movies were always being pumped out and music was always blaring at some hole in the wall club at all hours of the night. Beca would know, she was usually the one blaring the music.

At that thought, Beca covered her mouth with the back of her hand. Jet lag, time zone differences, and not actually sleeping when she got back to LA meant she was very tired. She had fortunately slept on the plane when her email was all caught up, but four hours does not well-rested make. Truth be told it would probably take her several days if not a week to get her body clock synced back up. However, with the Bellas still camped out in her apartment, that didn't seem very likely to happen soon.

Sometime in Beca's sleepy ramblings, Manny had shifted topics. Although it was December 29th, TSR was positively buzzing. And why shouldn't it be? Everyone knew that New Years was a DJ's paradise. Drinks flowing free, people just looking for a good party, and parties that lasted until the next day, what wasn't to love? And Beca, as a big-name, was booked for the club she was spinning at for almost a year in advance. After all it wasn't often that someone was offered the chance to spin at the best and most exclusive nightclub smack dab in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.

However, a good, high-profile event such as this New Year's event was no doubt to be required a hell of a lot of planning. Having the headlining DJ on the other side of the country certainly didn't make that any easier on anyone involved. With a slight sake of her head, Beca focused on Manny's words again as he was gesticulating wildly as he motioned towards a tentative provided guest list. Yep. Long day indeed.

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Jesse shifted in his seat, just a little uncomfortable with the atmosphere in his car. He would be the first to admit that it was fantastic to catch up with the Bellas and reminisce about college. However, the fact of the matter was Lily unnerved him to no end. Say what you will about her being quiet and unassuming, the Asian girl with the slightly unhinged look in her eyes and the Zippo in every pocket put him on edge. Maybe it was the way anytime someone said something she evidently disagreed with, her hand would automatically go towards one of her lighter pockets with a glint in her eyes. Also, on several occasions her mutterings had included the words, 'mob hit, 'unfortunate accident', and 'mass graves'. Pyrotechnical tendencies coupled with possible mafia affiliations tended to make him weary. Call him crazy.

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"Ummmm Kat," Chloe piped up hesitantly from the back seat. Usually the red head was a never ending vault of optimism and confidence. However, she hadn't missed the glint in Kat's eyes she glances Chloe's way or the quick and relentless way she was to defend the brunette. Kat glanced into the window and quirked an eyebrow. Chloe took that to mean, 'Yes?' "How exactly did you and Beca meet?"

Whatever response Chloe had been expecting, the wary clenching of teeth wasn't it. Kat pursed her lips before responding tightly, "That's a story for Beca to tell you." Chloe was disappointed, true, but she decided not to push her luck.

From what she could see, Kat already had a healthy sense of hatred for her and it kind of threw Chloe for a loop. People just didn't normally hate her. Even Beca back at Barden had never hated her, well at least up to the night of regionals. Now-a-days Chloe wasn't so sure. Earlier today, when Chloe had held the little DJ in her arms, everything felt right. But Beca still ran. And yeah, it was her leaving her own apartment to go to her job, but still. That old adage of 'hate to watch you go but love to watch you leave' was absolute bullshit in Chloe's mind. No view of Beca's backside, no matter how nice a backside it was (and honestly Chloe probably liked the view a little too much), would ever numb the pain of watching her storm away.

Every time it happened, admittedly only once in the past five years, it was semi-finals all over again. It was navy blue eyes glinting in betrayal. It was shoulders curved downward and a defeated slouch. It was angry and aggressive steps, each one taking the brunette further away. Away from the Bella's. Away from Barden. And away from Chloe. And damn did it hurt.

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"Am I dead? I feel dead," Beca stated dryly.

"Oh suck it up you overdramatic bitch," the woman on the opposite side of the desk said with an impish grin. Beca glared and felt like throttling the smug little grin off her PR Manager's face. Her intentions must have been readable on her face because with a taunting wag of her fingers, the woman went, "Tssk, tssk. Plotting people's murder in your head isn't nice and shouldn't be done around polite company."

Beca glared and retorted childishly, "Well than it's a good thing I'm around you and not someone polite."

"Oh shut up bitch," the PR manager said with another grin. Beca groaned and glanced at the clock in a desperate attempt to delude herself that some significant semblance of time had passed. No dice. It had only been a disheartening twenty minutes since she'd first sat down in her Public Relations manager office. The vice of PR, more commonly known by her name Tessa Bentley, was one of only a handful of people with the knowledge that Beca Mitchell was also CC Hale. She kind of had to be in know if she was to keep the tabloid and paparazzi off her ass. More than that, however, Tessa and Beca were friends.

Their first meeting was… one of Beca's more memorable moments in Los Angeles. Though to be honest the woman probably couldn't even recount what happened for like 75% of that night. What both Beca and Tessa were finally able to piece together later came from tidbits from Kat, Jesse, and Benji.

Seemingly Beca had done some flirting that turned out to be less that fruitful due to the fact that, in Beca's words, Tessa was so straight she made rulers look flexible. Apparently all you needed to be friends with Beca Mitchell were matching sarcastic humors, a serious appreciation for any type of music (Beca wasn't picky. If it was music, she knew it. Honestly, her brain was like someone had downloaded iTunes and was just constantly uploading it), and a healthy and generous amount of tequila. Tequila was Beca's best friend for making friends. What had started with flirting had ended with Tessa hanging upside down from a chandelier with no shirt on.

At the time, Tessa had been a junior at UCLA majoring in Communications. As with most college students, she had been promised a bright and shiny future but when the time came for a job or an internship, there were hundreds of other candidates with identical credentials. Tessa had become disillusioned with the college institution as a whole when halfway through she'd discovered that the hiring rates for communications majors was astoundingly low. While Tessa had loved what she was learning and would've give anything to keep taking classes, her scholarships were running out, she refused to ask her parents to pay anything else, and she wasn't willing to take out another twenty thousand a year in loans. So that had left the junior in a tough position. Either try and find a full time job in addition to school, try and solicit money from every sort of scholarship she came across, or she could drop out or transfer.

Not a single option appealed to her so she did what any self-respecting college student would do. She had gone to a bar and ordered a tequila shot. And then another. And then four more. Around that time a rather attractive brunette had walked up to her and started flirting with her. For a moment or two, Tessa had wished she was at least a little gay because the girl in front of her was drop dead gorgeous. Plus, she was a DJ (although apparently she'd only been an official paid DJ for a like six months). Alas, 'twas not to be.

Instead, somewhere after the fifth shot but before the second martini (which the woman so ruthlessly provided her with) that Tessa remembered spilling her guts (and the second martini) to and on the woman. She didn't remember anything past that (although she did remember something about a chandelier?) but she had woken up in her own apartment. The curtains had been drawn, a bottle of water and aspirin at her bed side, and a name and number written on a note. She had expected to feel a wave of regret (and hopefully a smidge of recognition) but yet she had felt nothing.

With a pitiful groan, honestly someone should have stopped her last night; she had picked up the piece of paper. All that had been written on the sheet was a phone number and 'TSR Inc. – ask for Manny' in scrawling handwriting. She had been confused, groggy, and hangover but she had called the number. A rather baffling conversation with some man named Manny had followed and Tessa had hung up thirty minutes later with a co-op at TurnStyle Records Incorporate on the recommendation of one of their most up and coming DJs, Beca Mitchell. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Tessa graduated with her degree thanks to a rather hefty scholarship sponsored by TSR and she'd been Beca's right-hand woman when it came to the media for both Beca Mitchell and CC Hale for the past four years. "Alright brat," Tessa said as she leaned back in her remarkably comfy chair. "I think that's enough for now."

"Really?!" the excitement rolling off that single word of Beca's was palpable.

"Yeah really," Tessa responded with a chuckle. She got up and out of her chair and snagged her jacket off the rack by the door. "Now let's go. We're meeting Kat and Jesse out at Dominic's and from what I understand; you have some very nosy al cappella people to introduce me to." Beca let out an overdramatic sigh and the two of them left the office to make their way downtown for lunch.

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"Yep. Dominic's in thirty minutes. Yep, right by that one sketchy bar with the outstanding nachos. Yep, you got it. Alright Tessa, we'll see you there," Kat ended the call quickly and made quick work of interrupting her Bella's Los Angeles tour with an almost-legal U-turn.

"What's going on popstar?" Fat Amy asked jovially from the back seat. Sometime in between Kat pointing out all the sights surrounding the city, including some of Kat's personal favorite boutiques, the Bellas had managed to weasel out Kat's full name. It had come to a massive surprise to everyone except Aubrey that the woman driving them around Los Angeles and had woken up drunk in Beca Mitchell's apartment was THE Katarina Daniels.

The questions had flowed fast and furious from that point on and Kat did her best to answer them honestly without giving anything about Beca away. For example, whenever the question, "How in the hell does Beca even **_know_** you?" came up, which was very often, Kat would change the subject. The Bellas noticed but opted instead to question what working with artists such as CC Hale and the newest version of Maroon 5 out of TSRecords, Kiss Me Not. Those questions were fun to answer, though Kat did get a kick out of the CC Hale inquires.

"Change of plans for lunch," Kat informed the Bellas easily. "We're going to go meet Beca and Tessa at our preferred pizza joint. Seems all day meetings only last five hours now." Any questions that the Bellas might have had were quickly wiped from their minds as Kat jerked on the steering wheel and promptly cut off three different drivers at once. Every Bella made a desperate grab for a handle or something solid to cling to desperately and any notion of trying to make conversation was quickly discarded. A good driver, Kat was not.

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"Alright you got it babe. Yep, see you in thirty," Jesse ended his call and looked over his shoulder back at the Bellas. "You guys cool with meeting Beca and my girlfriend for some pizza for lunch?" The girls piled in all nodded enthusiastically. While originally they had all been excited to be shown around Hollywood's movie sector by the King of Movie Nerds himself, there's only so many times you can hear "And that's where (insert famous movie director name here) rejected me to work on his/her music score" so many times before you want to strangle the speaker. And right now the current tally for how many times Jesse had uttered that sentence was 42. A good tour guide, Jesse was not.

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Tessa looked over to where one of her star co-workers was leaning up against the window pane of her car, mouth open and snoring slightly. An elegant sleeper, Beca was not.

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**… Hi? I'm not even really sure if anyone's still reading this and if you are I'm really, really, really, really sorry it took so long. Feel free to drop a review ranting and raving or just boycott that as well. It's all cool. That is all. Have a nice day **


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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Tessa nudged her friend in the passenger seat. With a very elegant snort, Beca jerked awake and looked around blearily. When she recognized that she was in a car and hadn't fallen asleep in yet another staff meeting (it happened more times than she liked to admit), she relaxed slightly. "So where're we?" Beca asked blearily as she looked around.

"Dominic's," Tessa answered with a slight smirk. Beca sat straight up in her seat and suddenly her eyes were sparkling with an unnatural amount of mirth. "I thought you'd appreciate the gesture," Tessa informed the tiny DJ as they both exited the car. "I was even nice enough to call up Jesse and Kat with all those girls staying in your apartment and invite them out as well."

Beca flashed Tessa a smirk that doubled as her grin and the two headed into the restaurant. As soon as they entered the establishment, they were hustled into the party room, which was just a side room with more tables and chairs shoved inside than was probably legal due to fire codes. Instead of bothering the wait staff with drinks, there was a bucket of ice and several pitchers of assorted beverages in the middle of the table. The two women settled down and waited for the rest of their party to arrive. Tessa shifted slightly in her seat before propping her feet up on the chair next to her and relaxing back.

Beca quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Saving that for someone?"

Tessa sneered back and said, "Yes my boyfriend. You should look into getting one." Beca snorted and Tessa rolled her eyes. "Or a girlfriend, same difference."

"Actually, from what I understand one comes with a penis and the other comes with a strap on and fun bags," Beca pointed out drily.

Tessa rolled her eyes again (honestly she did that a lot around Beca) and her features twisted into a frown. "How long has it been Becs?"

Beca pointedly avoided eye contact and instead swirled the ice around in her water glass. "How long has it been since what?"

"Don't pull that bullshit with me," Tessa warned her with a deeper frown and a scowl.

Beca shot her a look and said stubbornly, "I've seen quite a few women lately Tessa."

"No, you've seen quite a few women's bikini lines. There's a difference," Tessa insisted. "When's the last time you went on an actual honest to goodness date, one that doesn't include you performing at a club and getting wasted afterwards?" Beca pursed her lips and didn't dignify Tessa's question with an answer. Truthfully, Beca didn't think she had one. Sure, she'd been forced into a few awkward dates the first couple of months she was first out in Los Angeles by Manny and a few other coworkers, and later Sid and Tessa both forced her out at least once a year. However the pity dates barely got past the second date and most definitely not past the third date. And besides, in the past year she'd been all around the country.

Her first year in Los Angeles, Beca had established herself as a hell of a club artist under her pseudo-name. The second she was making her mark as CC Hale on the Top 40 Charts. And from then on it all just spiraled from there. If she ever stopped and took a step back to just look at how far she came, it sort of made her head spin. But the one thing that was constant in Beca's life is that she was still alone. Not all the time, pretty rarely in actuality.

She spent more time than was considered healthy camped out in her office at TSR, surrounded on all sides by their antics. Between Manny talking about such and such club up in Portland she absolutely had to check out, Sid telling her about this new artists she absolutely had to listen to, and Tessa forcing her to write the letters to the various media sources she absolutely had to keep appeased about her life, Beca was always busy. And when she went home and collapsed in her bed, Teddy was there to curl into her side.

Her dog was the closest thing to a girlfriend that Beca had had in a long, long time. She even brought him into work when it was looking like she was going to be locked into a long assignment. He was like her fluffy alarm clock, reminding her to eat, get out of her chair for a walk around the block, and occasionally crash for a nap. But still. No human to sleep next to, or do other, more entertaining, things in the bed.

Beca was brought out of her (mildly depressing) musings by the arrival of Jesse and his carpool. Denise, Jessica, Ashley, and Lily all slipped into seats around the table. Jesse, however, marched right over to where Tessa and Beca were sitting. Gently, he lifted Tessa's feet and slid underneath, letting her settled them back into his lap.

Beca quirked an eyebrow at the couple's comfort with each other and made a silent gagging motion. Lily, who had taken the chair opposite Beca, sniggered quietly. Beca smirked at the Asian girl and the two of them started chatting. Beca for one was delighted that she wasn't the only one who could hear Lily, although the girl had dialed back the terrifying murder comments. As the two caught up, Beca learned that Lily was working as bounty hunter for a bail bond agency in Flagstaff, Arizona. Apparently she spent more than her fair share of time in Vegas as well and had actually been at one of Beca's shows in sin city as well.

"Wait," Beca interrupted the Asian in confusion. "I've never done a show in Vegas."

"But CC Hale has," Lily murmured, her voice lowered so no one would catch her words but Beca with her disturbingly good hearing. For the first time, Beca was extremely glad she was apparently the only one who could or would listen to Lily. However, that didn't stop her from glaring sharply at the Asian, daring her to say her statement louder. Lily quirked an eyebrow but she said nothing else. Beca took a deep and shuddering breath before turning to Cynthia-Rose on the other side.

"Soooo," Beca started with a knowing smirk. "You and Stacie huh?"

"Soooo, you and Los Angeles huh?" Cynthia-Rose said back. Beca rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Los Angeles," she agreed. She'd been hoping that this particular line of questioning wouldn't come up until later if at all. Apparently that was wishful thinking. Cynthia-Rose appraised the younger woman, her dark eyes searching every inch of Beca's face.

Back at Barden, Beca would be unnerved. She'd be squirming and looking anywhere but at her accuser. Now, she knew better. If pretending to do press releases about working with CC Hale, who was actually herself, and speaking in some bizarre form of twisted third-person had taught her anything, it was a hell of a poker face. So she met Cynthia-Rose's eyes evenly and betrayed nothing. Cynthia-Rose, in possession of an impressive poker face herself, stared back at her for a few moments.

Their silent standoff was interrupted by the sudden arrival of an attractive brunette plopping down in Cynthia-Rose's lap. Cynthia-Rose broke her stare to give Stacie a quick peck on the lips and wrap her arms around the woman's midsection. Beca gave her head a mental shake and she twisted to face the right way at the table. She scanned her surroundings, apparently everyone was now here as she noted Fat Amy talked loudly and jovially with Tessa (how she had missed the ramblings about teeth and dingos, Beca would never know), Aubrey and Kat were sitting across from her and talking about something (but the way that Kat was entirely enthralled by the blonde it was likely the cure to cancer. Note, grill her friend about that later), and then Beca was looking into what felt like endless blue eyes.

Somehow, Chloe had managed to slip into the chair next to Beca's without the brunette noticing. "Hi there," Beca breathed, her voice a smidgen raspier than she would have liked.

"Hi!" Chloe's voice was as bright as Beca remembered. It was like swallowing a warm gulp of tequila that warmed her right down to her toes. "So," Chloe's grin was wide and playful but there was something ever so off in her eyes. "Do you come here often?" Beca felt her mouth easily twist in the smile that she distinctly remembered being ever present in the red-head's presence as she shook her head at the horrible pick up line.

Still, she tilted her head and smirked crookedly while replying, "Yeah actually. The wait staff is some of my personal favorites in the entire country." Beca watched in amusement as a little furrow appear in Chloe's forehead as she contemplated Beca's answer. Her unasked question was quickly answered when a man in jeans and the restaurant's official polo shirt and baseball hat walked up to the table.

"Hello, my name is Bumper and I'll be taking care of you today." Chloe's jaw dropped open and many Bellas snorted slightly into their various drinks. However, everyone's reactions paled drastically compared to Aubrey Put-Together Posen's. With a dignified snort and cough into her water, the beverage was sprayed deliciously over the table and quite a few people sitting got slightly soggy.

"Bumper? Bumper Allen?" she managed to sputter out between coughs while Kat whacked her on the back in a misguided attempt to clear the blonde's airways. The Treblemaker turned waiter looked at the blonde in confusion, most likely trying to remember where he knew her from. And when his face suddenly twisted into a face of abject horror, it was evident he had evidently placed the blonde.

However, the man's ever so eloquent response to Aubrey's professional inquiry was a blunt, "Fuck." Within a few seconds, he had twirled on his heels, his waiter's apron flapping in the wind, and he was gone. It took quite a few seconds for everyone to gather their facilities and then the table was filled with raucous laughter. Every time it seemed like the giggles and snickers were under control, someone would mention either Bumper's name or his profession and a whole new round would overtake the table.

Finally, it was Chloe who was wiping a few stray tears that had leaked out as she laughed herself to tears, who asked, "How in the hell did you find Bumper was a waiter?"

Beca smirked and answered though her response was directed towards the whole table, "It was actually Jesse who told me. Ask him." As one, every Bella turned and looked at the ex-Treblemaker with eager eyes.

"How?" Stacie demanded.

Jesse held his hands up in surrender before explaining, "I was looking for somewhere quick to eat like two years ago. I was working really odd hours and this was one of the only places still open. I kept coming and eventually ran into the King of Smooth out there and the rest is history. I drag Benji out here and make him wear his old Trebles hoodie as a sort of torture device every once in a while." That set off a whole new round of joyous laughter. The small talk continued amongst the various groups that had naturally occurred and Beca once again found herself alone with Chloe Beale in a room full of people.

"So Becs," Beca couldn't help the warm feeling spreading through her extremities once again, this time at the nickname, she really couldn't. "How's LA treating you?" the redhead asked curiously.

Beca shrugged and said with a smirk, "Not too badly Chlo. What about you?"

"Oh LA's treating me just fine," the older woman said with a shit-eating grin. Beca rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair as she recognized she'd been unconsciously leaning towards Chloe the whole interaction.

"Not what I meant Beale and you know it." Chloe grinned again, her smile so radiant it was damn near blinding. "Where'd you end up anyway?" The question had a bizarrely sobering effect on Chloe as the redhead's face fell and she looked away quickly. Beca was confused, it wasn't as if she'd overstepped some sort of boundary was it? Asking where someone lived and worked was a pretty standard icebreaker question wasn't it?

Oblivious to the thought war waging inside Beca's head, Chloe bit the inside of her cheek and responded slowly, "I live out in Chicago. Just finished up my senior year of medical school at the University of Chicago and I'm starting at Chicago General in a couple of weeks." Beca quirked an eyebrow.

"Sounds intense," she said with a whoosh of admiration. Chloe smiled shyly and ducked her head with a bashful blush .

"Oi lezbros!" Fat Amy's iconic voice echoed easily around the table and quite honestly probably around the restaurant if the sudden silence was an indication. Both Beca and Chloe looked up from their conversation to find everyone staring at them with various looks of amusement on their faces.

"Yeeeees?" Beca drawled, refusing to allow the blush she could feel on her neck creep any higher and give her away. Judging by said looks of amusement growing a little more amused, she was not succeeding.

"We were just asking these flat-butts what exactly you do?"

"Yeah and does it have anything to do with the mafia?" Stacie chipped in seriously, staring at Beca intently. The mafia? Why the hell would anyone suspect she was in the mafia? She was fairly certain that someone had to be at least five foot six to be in the mafia. It was probably like question two: What is your height?

So… what did she do… damn.

Really this question should be easy and straightforward for a normal person. However, normal people did not have the jobs that Beca did. She was on one hand a simple DJ, but a DJ at some of the best clubs around Los Angeles and around the world. On the other hand, she was a simple recording artist, but also a recording artist that was a Grammy recipient, worked with some of the best artists and producers, and was under a completely false name. So… how to answer the question provided. Beca bit her bottom lip and unknowingly twisted her lips in thought.

Finally, after a pause she said thoughtfully, "I work at a recording studio downtown. While I am fairly confident that I myself am not a willing member of the mafia, there is a rather large chance that my boss and my boss's family owns half of the Mexican mafia and maybe like twenty-seven cartels."

"Who Manny?" Tessa piped up from down the table, drawing every attention towards where she was snuggled up against Jesse.

"No, she means Franny. Of course she means Manny. Dude has enough cousins they probably count for half of the population in Mexico and Honduras," Jesse said through a snort.

"And his cousins have bailed your ass out more times than anyone else," Beca pointed out with a quirked eyebrow. Jesse blushed and mumbled something that had Tessa rolling her eyes and whapping him chidingly on the shoulder.

"Which recording studio?" Aubrey asked curiously, her eyebrows raised challengingly.

Beca scratched the back of her neck and said sheepishly, "Ah, Turnstyle Records." The silence that hung in the air could have suffocated Beca if not for the blessed sound of her cell phone ringing. Beca couldn't actually remember the last time she was so grateful to see Manny's afro on her screen. The picture wasn't even of his face, it was just his afro.

"Hey Manfred, what's up?" Beca answered flippantly as she stood up from the table and moved off to the side of the room to offer up some semblance of privacy. Unbeknownst to her, every person in the room, Jesse, Kat, and Tessa included, was eavesdropping in on her side of the conversation shamelessly.

"Yeah I know. Yeah, New Year's Eve. Right, downtown. Yeah, the one that I helped set up. Yes I know who's going to be there. Yes I know that. Manny, trust me I won't screw this one up. I know how important this one is to TSR. Yes I am inviting Kat and Tessa. No, we will not let Tessa get into the tequila. Yes, I promise I will hire a babysitter for her. Anything else? Manny, relax. I've done this hundreds of times. Manny, look I'm at a lunch and I'm being very rude. Alright. Have fun. Yes. Have a nice day." With a nearly dignified roll of her eyes, Beca ended the call and turned back to the table she had left. Coming face to face with twelve pairs of eyes watching her every mood.

This time it was Tessa who broke the silence. "What club are you at on New Year's?"

Beca shrugged and said, "Yours truly is going to be locked into a tiny little booth overlooking 7-OnUP."

"No way, are you shitting me?" Jesse exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah I am," Beca snickered, enjoying Jesse's gob-smacked face. "I'm just doing sound check and making sure everything's all set for the headliner. Last I heard, CC Hale will be tearing it up o the turntables, not me choir boy. Sorry to disappoint." Tessa narrowed her eyes at the same time that Jesse rolled his.

Fortunately, no one noticed either's reaction because they were focused far more on Kat's. "No way, you're gonna be at 7-OnUP on the craziest night of the year? Awe punchkin, you've got to get us in!"

Fat Amy couldn't help the snicker at Beca's nickname. "Punchkin? Awe little ankle-biter I thought your days of clobbering poor innocent bystanders was over."

"Innocent?" Beca questioned with a snort. "The person I punched had their hand so high on my thing I was running out of leg for her to terrorize. I issued a verbal threat twice loudly, clearly, and delightfully enunciated. She choose to ignore it and as such I kindly invited her to remove her and from my person in a loud and physical fashion."

The Bellas all smirked as they recognized that as eloquent speak for "told her to get off me and then punched her".

"Doesn't matter," Kat said with a flippant wave her hand. "Us at 7-OnUP on New Year's Eve. Yes or no?"

Beca's brow furrowed. "Us? Who is this us?"

"Why me, the choir dweeb, his lovely better half, the accountant, and these ladies," here Kat gestured around at the gathered Bellas. Everyone looked at Beca hopefully. She held her hands up in a placating gesture. She took a glance around, taking in Fat Amy's crazed and enthused look, Lily's flickering eyes, Aubrey's skeptical look, and Chloe's never-ending hopeful blue eyes. Oh, she was screwed.

"I'll see what I can do," she conceded with a soft sigh. The wide grins she received would have been worth it, if not for the accompanying whip sound from Kat's direction. Beca allowed herself a self-pitying groan. She now had to beg Manny for eleven VIP passes. May the afro have mercy on her soul. 

**.**

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**Alright, question time for the readers. Does anyone know a story about Beca travelling around the world? It's a one shot, several thousand words long, it's a Bechloe pairing, and it ends with Beca on Chloe's porch. Any of you know it? Please? Thanks lovelies**

**Update: Fic has been located, author is happy, huge shout-out to llvr. Thanks for making my night!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Blah, blah, blah you've heard it all before**

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Beca steeled her nerves. While she had enjoyed seeing the Bellas and her friends for lunch, she, Kat, and Tessa had to return to the real world where they were booked for the day. Despite it being two days until it was time to ring in the New Year, Los Angeles was bustling. Not that it ever stopped. Kat had managed to sneak in some last minute studio session work with her backup band for the charity benefit she'd be singing at New Years Day. Tessa was in the middle of keeping CC Hale out of a media shit storm with this latest performance. And Beca was up to her neck making sure everything at TSR and 7-OnUp would go over smoothly on New Year's Eve.

It took a surprising amount of coordination between the club, the bouncers, the opening DJs and everyone else involved with the club to keep things running smoothly. For example, before the doors to the club opened, and usually weeks upon weeks in advance, Beca had to put down absolutely anything and everything she could think of for the club host to use. Everything from what drink she would be drinking up in the booth for the night (water with an occasional jack and coke) to what songs she'd most likely be playing (it was basically five hundred or so songs and mashups that Beca would rotate to depending on the mood the crowd was giving her). No detail was overlooked. Honestly, she was catered to like visiting royalty anytime she was up in a DJ booth.

And of course Tessa was working her ass off so that no one knows that Beca was really CC Hale. Frankly, it was a miracle that no one had ever recognized her before. Or, if they had, she'd been too unapproachable to be bothered. Both options pleased Beca greatly.

While she was incredibly grateful to everyone who enjoyed what she did and fully acknowledged that without them she'd still be back in Georgia making mixes in her dorm room, there was a line.

She'd seen and heard enough horror stories about stalking, paparazzi, and tabloid columns to last her a life time. Los Angeles may be the city of dreams, but one day you were in and the next you were out. The only thing Beca had found that worked without fail is to not get involved in the first place. It was a great idea in theory but in practice it was a hell of a lot harder. It involved an unholy amount of binding secrecy contracts and numerous identity hindrances.

For example, CC Hale was never seen without some form of sunglasses covering her face and a hat covering her hair. She also tended to wear high heels to hinder height estimates, long sleeves that always went down to her wrists, and never, ever plaid. Whereas Beca Mitchell only wore sunglasses when it was absolutely necessary, had her long and curly brown hair always woven into some intricate up do or cascading around her shoulders, wouldn't get caught dead in heels, had tattoos on her forearms that she showed off frequently, and loved her some plaid. It was a simple yet effective illusion. And Beca hoped like hell that it would hold up the test of time.

CC Hale had been hailed as one of the greatest artists in the modern music scene in quite some time. According to her critics, she had taken generic and auto-tuned pop music and breathed life back into it. Her music was popular, thus in the pop genre, but it was lasting. It was innovative, refreshing, and revitalizing.

To Beca, it was just music. Beca wasn't picky with any music, she never had been. From a young age, she had soaked up whatever music was playing loudly in the apartments surrounding her. Some days it was the only fella down the hall blasting Duke Elliot and the next Dubstep was rocking and quaking the walls. To Beca, it was all music and it was all glorious. So when it came time to record her own, it only seemed natural that she incorporate any and every type of music she could. There were jazz-like runs, Dubstep bass drops, and country story lines weaved into her songs. If it was music, Beca utilized it. Simple as that.

Such appreciation for all forms of music was a rarity now, and as such she drew massive amounts of attention. And that attention had culminated into numerous musical awards, (she had four Grammies in a trophy case), artists clambering to work with her more weeks than there were in a year, (note to self, return Taylor Swift's call), and the public going wild for more information about her (creepers, the lot of them).

CC Hale had no Facebook, Twitter, and Tessa's whole life purpose was to release only the information that was wanted. Beca Mitchell's life was a little more open. She did have a Facebook that was armed to the teeth with privacy settings and the same with her Twitter. She was careful to not mention anything about her job or who she worked with and both accounts were regularly monitored by Tessa. Everything down to where her phone was pinged was monitored. At first it was unnerving, but Beca had learned to live with it.

Beca stretched quickly, cracked her knuckles, and picked up her ringing phone. "Hey Leila. Yup, I'm ready. So about tonight, I was thinking that maybe…"

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"Hola bitchacho," a loud and cheerful voice rang out from Beca's doorway. Beca, who was facing the opposite direction and looking out her window, threw her hand up in the air with a certain finger raised. "Hey now, that wasn't nice," Manny said with a pout as he moved into the office and settled into a chair opposite the small woman's desk. He saw that her iPhone was resting on her desk and was indicating that Beca was currently taking a call.

"Uh huh, nope that all sounds good to me. Yeah. If I think of anything I'll call you. Uh huh. Right. Yeah. Bye now." With a groan, Beca spun around and pulled the headset she'd been using to talk wirelessly off her ears. "Holy shit, I think that woman talks more than you."

Manny merely grinned and settled back into the chair and asked in a surprisingly serious tone of voice, "Everything okay with the club?"

Beca nodded once. While she knew that Manny sported a reputation of being an over-exuberant bouncing ball of curly hair, he could be surprisingly serious. When the talk was about work and nothing else, Manny's twinkling eyes would harden and his grin would flatten out. It was a sight few ever got to see and Beca considered herself incredibly lucky to be on the receiving end of what she referred to as Manny's 'Cut the shit and do the business' look. Beca liked that look. It kind of made her think of a three year old pouting and trying to get their way.

"Leila still as fiery as ever?" Manny said as he settled back into the chair he was seated in. While he could be serious when the need called for it, it wasn't quite his forte.

"Oh you know it," Beca answered easily. "A little on edge and ready for the New Year to come in showers of champagne and poorly timed hookups." Manny grinned goofily and Beca rolled her eyes. "Next time my club contact needs to schedule some beloved foreplay with her favorite afro man, tell her to cut out the middleman and go straight to the hairy source, would you," she teased with her eyes glinting mischievously. Manny mock scowled at his prize DJ before shaking his head in exasperation.

"You have many talents love, match making is not one of them," he said with a scowl. Beca just grinned and let Manny divert her attention to the files he had clutched in his hand. She nodded along and would occasionally point out an irregularity but other than that, their impromptu meeting was short and to the point.

Forty five minutes later, Beca waved Manny out of her office and she let her face drop into her supported hands. She had managed to procure the necessary VIP passes to get all the Bellas, Jesse, and Benji into the club. Fortunately, Kat just had to show up, flash her dimples and she was in the doors. Tessa had a bit more difficulty. She had to actually dig the TSR badge out of her pocket and be discreet about slipping in the back door. Beca's was the hardest. She had to show up early and actually physically lift the door open. Very strenuous work, she assured everyone. Honestly, juggling the Bellas and keeping her identity secret wasn't anything more than what she was used to now a days.

Beca groaned and stood up with her car keys in her hand. She had a club spot to stake out and a club owner to schmooze. Sigh. It was going to be a long afternoon.

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Chloe Beale sighed to herself and looked around the apartment she was in. Beca's apartment, she reminded herself. It was weird to see Beca again she felt no shame in admitting. She couldn't delude herself into thinking that she could stick around or that Beca would even want to, but she liked to close her eyes and pretend. For now she could lean back on Beca's expensive sofa and just breathe the smells of the apartment in. There were faint scents of wood polish, the ever present smell of fabric cleaner or possibly Febreeze, and something that was so uniquely Beca. Perfume or deodorant or just her natural scent, it was there.

Chloe leaned back and inhaled deeply. For just a brief moment it was so easy to imagine what would have happened if the incident five years ago had never happened. If she had never let Aubrey walk all over herself and Beca. If her happily ever after had had the decency to work itself out.

_Chloe groaned and laid her head down on her folded arms that were propped on the textbook in front of her. The words were just swimming in and out of her brain. Honestly, she felt like her brain was like an over-saturated sponge. Anything new just bounced right off. _

_Suddenly, a pair of small hands was laid on her shoulders and thumbs were probing gently at the knots that caused a valley of tension between the ginger's shoulders. Chloe moaned in absolute bliss as the magic fingers undid stress caused by hours of being hunched over medical textbooks and attempting to cram definition after definition in every crevice of her brain. A soft pair of lips was suddenly in the spot just below her ear and they lingered deliciously. Chloe tilted her head to the side and sighed again. _

_There was a deep breath and then a soft exhale right by her ear before the girl breathed, "Hiya Red." Chloe's lips twisted unbidden into a hapless smile. Honestly, she couldn't even help her reaction anymore. Five years together and Chloe was still complete putty in her girlfriend's hands. _

_"__Hey babe," Chloe whispered breathlessly. "How was your meeting?" _

_"__Fine," her girlfriend's throaty chuckle reverberated pleasantly along Chloe's neck. "Although I think Manny might have finally snapped. Something about milkshakes and the boys in the yard?" _

_Chloe threw her head back and laughed before turning in her chair to take in the site of her girlfriend. She opened her arms invitingly and the small woman in front other wasted no time in sitting on her lap. She settled with her legs on either side of Chloe's hips, her body pressed along every inch of Chloe, her nose almost touching Chloe's and her breath fanning gently across Chloe's face. _

_"__That's not nice Beca," Chloe chided gently. Beca's grin was downright mischievous and her eyes twinkling with mirth. _

_"__But it's true," Beca pointed out with a slight snigger and a smirk. Chloe rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to reprimand her slightly childish girlfriend when she was unceremoniously cut off by a firm kiss. Chloe rolled her eyes, huffed slightly, and sunk into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around Beca's slim waist and pulled the tiny brunette flush against her. After a few long moments and some finalizing pecks, the ginger pulled away. _

_"__Much as I appreciate the distraction babe, I really have to finish studying." _

_"__Hey you'll be fine," Beca said with an encouraging grin. "How about we order Chinese food, watch Grey's Anatomy, and make out a little more?" _

_"__Always a charmer Mitchell," Chloe said with another eye roll in response to Beca's pointed eyebrow wiggles and she eased the tiny girl off her lap. "Always a charmer." Beca's response was a slow and sexy smirk that was full of dark and dirty promises. Beca leaned forward, making sure to arch her back as she did so, and put her mouth right by Chloe's ear. _

_With a dramatic sigh she said, "I try Doctor Beale. I really, __**really **__try." Chloe shuddered ever so slightly and Beca walked away smugly, an extra swing in her hips, and she started dialing their favorite Chinese place._

"Chloe!" Chloe was brought out of her enticing day dream by a firm hand shaking her shoulder roughly.

"Aubrey? What?" Chloe was confused.

"Must have been some day dream," Aubrey remarked dryly. "I've been calling your name for a solid thirty seconds. What's going on in that ginger head of yours?" Chloe tried to smile at the affectionate nickname but it brought her back to that wondrous dream she'd just been drawn out of and she sobered immediately.

"Beca," Chloe admitted with a lofty sigh. Aubrey rolled her eyes and settled on the couch next to her best friend.

"What about the hobbit now?" Chloe did actually smile at Aubrey's nearly affectionate nickname for their ex-alt girl. Chloe shrugged helplessly in response to Aubrey's query.

"I'm not really sure," she admitted softly. "Just thinking about what it would be like if I hadn't made some choices that I've made."

Aubrey smiled tightly and said knowingly, "Semifinals?"

Chloe nodded. "Semifinals," she agreed.

Aubrey sighed and ran her hand in a very non-Posen fashion through her blonde tresses. She was silent for several moments as she tried to sort through her thoughts. This was a sensitive topic and she sure as hell was going to at least try to use tact and not blunder her way through this conversation.

She finally spoke softly and slowly, choosing her words deliberately and enunciating them as if she was in a court room, "Yes you made some rotten choices, Chloe. We all did, me more than most. I walked all over you, the other girls, and Beca." Aubrey held up a hand as Chloe started to protest almost as if she was reading a script. This was an old argument and Aubrey had no desire to rehash the same damn points they'd been bickering over for five years now.

"Don't start with me Chloe. We all made mistakes, you, me, the other girls, and frankly so did Beca. We should have fought more for her, tried to get a hold of her sooner, or at least looked in on her a hell of a lot sooner than we did. But, at the end of the day, Beca left. She decided that the friendships she'd spent so many months cultivating weren't worth fighting for and she left. Looking at where she is now and the situation she left us all in, it makes sense of course, but that doesn't change the fact that she had no problem just up and leaving."

Here, Aubrey paused and seemed to be having an internal debate that evidently she won because she continued on cautiously. "I just… I don't want to see you hurt again Chloe. I saw what Beca leaving the first time did to you and frankly I don't know if I, as your best friend, can in good faith go through that again. I know you look at Beca and all you see is an old friend, flame, or whatever the hell you two were. But it's been five years. None of us are the same people we were back in college, especially not Beca. Just… just don't invest too much in this, alright? Go in with a clear head and all that crap and remember Chicago is waiting for you."

Chloe pursed her lips and nodded tersely. While she appreciated Aubrey's speech and on some internal level acknowledged every point that the blonde lawyer made, it still stung. After all, who really wants to hear from their best friend that they didn't think that they couldn't handle something?

Chloe gave a soft sigh and said, "I'll keep that in mind Bree." Aubrey nodded and stood up to leave her ginger friend to deal with her chaotic thoughts.

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"Hey Becs!" a voice from down the hall called out to Beca. The brunette DJ paused with her key still in the lock of her office door. When she saw the wide afro wiggling its way towards her, she rolled her eyes and made her way inside. She had just spent the past four hours talking with the club owner and the Head Floor Runner of 7-OnUP and to be frank she was exhausted. There was only so much groveling Beca could handle in a given time frame and this past meeting had far exceeded every quota she'd ever set.

"What Manny?" Beca snapped, though her words lacked any real sting in them to anyone who knew her well. Manny smiled at her, impervious as usual to the DJ's scathing attitude that burned anyone who got too close.

"I was just wondering how you were doing," Manny said with an innocent smile. While Manny was impervious to Beca's snark, Beca was impervious to Manny's smile. After all, the last time she'd seen it, he was trying to sweet talk his way out of felony charges involving firecrackers and a school bus at the last company Fourth of July picnic.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. While she was certainly closer and got along a lot better with Manny than most people were with their bosses, Beca wasn't sure she'd classify Manny as a 'Spill Your Guts Over A Bottle Of Wine' type of friend. He was more along the lines of, 'I Might Get You Arrested But Damn This Will Make A Good Story' type of buddy. He and Fat Amy were quite alike in that regard and Beca made a mental note never to introduce the two. The results would no doubt be catastrophic.

Manny's grin sobered ever so slightly. "I just wanted to make sure that everything was going okay with that old singing group of yours back in town and staying at your place," he admitted with a worried look on his face. Beca couldn't help the eye roll, she really couldn't. It was honestly like a reflex.

"I'm fine Manwell," Beca said with a dramatic sigh. "And how'd you find out anyway? Tessa? Kat? Jesse?"

"Benji actually," Manny told her. "I was trying to figure out why you, who has requested an astounding three VIP passes the entire five years you've worked for me, suddenly needed eleven on the busiest night of the year. He was the only one who picked up the phone."

Beca nodded at his explanation. Benji was reliable like that. Still, she was less than thrilled with one of her friends spilling details about her personal life with Manny. That had been one of the things she had been less than impressed with about TurnStyle. They tended to take an incredibly hands on approach in every aspect to every employee, especially the big ticket ones such as Beca, or CC Hale she supposed.

Beca massaged the bridge of her nose and said in exasperation, "I'm sorry if the request was an inconvenience to you Manny. You should have just said something."

"Oh no," Manny was quick to placate his star. "Nothing of the sort Pint-Size. I was just curious. And I'm worried about you. I've known you for five years darling, I'm allowed to be worried," he said with a slight pout at the glare Beca shot him.

"But in all seriousness Beca," Manny straightened up and with his massive afro, he actually cut an almost impressive figure. "I've seen you at your highest highs and some of your lowest lows. For heaven's sake, I _met _you at one of your lowest lows and it was brought on by that group of women. Excuse me for being just a weary about your game getting thrown off."

Beca smirked and shook her head as she replied, "My game will be just fine. And besides, I'm all sorts of on-guard now with them around Manny. No worries there." Manny shot her a searching gaze before he quirked an eyebrow and nodded in satisfaction in whatever he found there. With a quick goodbye and an over-enthusiastic wave, Manny was bouncing away, off to his next assignment no doubt.

Beca sat at her desk chair and raked her fingers through her hair twice as a calming mechanism. Truth be told, she was just as worried about the Bellas being in town as Manny was. Well, honestly it was just one Bella that had her guard up at all times. Aubrey, Fat Amy, and Cynthia Rose may well have thought they had Beca successfully pegged back in their time at Barden and at some point they may have once been right. Nowadays though, they were just old acquaintances who would share stories and catch up on all times and that was it.

No, the real danger was in Chloe Beale. Five years ago she had torn down every wall Beca had ever erected with a simple, "That song really builds," and some truly impressive bathroom harmonizing. It had been so quick and painless (though mildly awkward) to have all her walls stripped away in one foul swoop, and Chloe made it seem so effortless. And if she could do it once, Beca was under no illusions that she couldn't do it again.

So until Chloe Beale's ginger ass was back on a plane to the Windy City, Beca had to remain constantly vigilant and on her toes at all times.

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**A/N **

**TAAA DAAAA. I'm not dead. Whoop whoop**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own jack shit**

Beca had to admit, she'd certainly been rolling her eyes a lot more than she usually did. And while her first instinct was to blame the sudden increase on the arrival of the Barden Bellas from five years earlier, she wasn't that naive. No, the real reason for all the eye rolling was because of a one Katarina McDaniel.

"Kat," Beca snapped from where she was draped dramatically over Kat's not-quite-comfortable couch. Every few seconds or so she would shift and wiggle in a vain attempt to get some semblance of comfort. It would work for a few seconds and then she'd be right back to wiggling and writhing in discomfort. "You said five minutes forty minutes ago, you still have to go pick up the Bellas, and my ass has now officially fallen asleep. What could possibly be taking so long?"

"Oh come off it Miss Impatient. It hasn't been that long," Kat stated with an eye roll as she came striding out of her bedroom still adjusting an earring. She stopped in the middle of her living room and did a slow dramatic turn while asking with a knowing smirk, "How do I look?"

Beca rolled her eyes (See! It was all Kat's fault really) and said shortly, "Like your outfit could have paid for my college tuition. Can we go now?" Beca's statement, while slightly exaggerated she'd be the first to admit (after all, her collegiate expenses had been covered by an estranged father and Kat knew it), wasn't too far off point. Kat was wearing a low-cut and short gold dress, a pair of high-heels that made Beca's usual medium sized friend tower over her in an unfortunately familiar and yet altogether frustrating fashion, and numerous pieces of shiny and expensive jewelry.

Beca, in contrast preferred the age old adage of 'Keep it simple stupid'. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, her favorite pair of high-heeled black boots (that weren't combat ready for once), a white oxford shirt with the collar undone, a light black vest over that and a red tie knotted loosely to finish off the look. Loose hair flowing in curls down past her shoulders and natural makeup completed her simple yet elegant ensemble.

"Hakuna your tatas," Kat said flippantly as she applied yet another layer of lipstick. "What time is Tessa coming to get you?"

Beca glanced down at her phone and responded, "She should be here in a couple minutes. You cool if I head down now?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kat waved her hand dramatically at the DJ. "I know the drill. You ride to the club with Tessa, and without me may I emphasize, I go pick up the Bellas, the boy toy, and the accountant and we head out to 7-OnUp in about five hours. I'm not walking through those doors a minute before ten o'clock so we'll probably go out to dinner somewhere. By then you'll be all set up at the club and tucked away safely in the DJ booth and if any of the Aca-bitches ask where you teeny self is, I lie and say something about running wire work. Now go and have a kickin' show. Bring honor to the houses of Hale and Mitchell." Kat ended her tirade with her arm extended dramatically in the air like superman and what was supposed to look like a meaningful and dramatic look off into the distance.

Beca rolled her eyes, took a half-hearted swipe at Kat's arm that the popstar dodged easily, and stood up to grab her jacket. She slipped into it easily, slipped her sunglasses out of the pocket and made her way downstairs to where Tessa had just texted she was waiting. As soon as she slipped into the passenger seat of Tessa's nondescript black sedan ("Do you want to look like a fucking kidnapper?" "Well maybe if you grew a few inches then no one would notice shrimp."), she was bombarded by her PR manager with questions. Beca answered every question as it was fired at her, everything about were her tattoos covered to if she had everything she needed set up.

Beca was anxious yet excited about tonight, which truthfully was a feeling that hadn't disrupted her in quite a few years. As much as she loved playing for clubs, eventually the nights started to blur into one another and even the truly big ones no longer fazed the experienced DJs. It was both comforting to know that she was finally comfortable enough to know where she stood in the DJ world and slightly saddening when what she once would have given anything to experience had become mundane and boring.

This night was going to be different however. She wanted to make tonight's show the best she'd put on in a while, maybe ever. For the first time in what felt like a very long time, Beca felt like there was more riding on tonight's performance than there had been for a while. Whether it was her pride as CC Hale or her desire to give the Bellas a night they wouldn't forget (a certain red-head in particular), Beca didn't truly know. All she knew was that she had a certain nervous buzz floating through her veins and it was making her leg twitch much to Tessa's irritation. Beca shot Tessa a terse smile as they pulled up to the club and then she was off to the DJ booth to make this night unforgettable, at least to all the patrons before the alcohol got ahold of their inhibitions and memories.

Chloe shot Aubrey an anxious look and fiddled slightly with the hem of her dress. Aubrey caught the nervous action and rolled her eyes dramatically at her best friend's nervousness. "Calm down Chloe," Aubrey murmured low enough that the other rather nosy Bellas wouldn't hear. "She's working tonight, you might not even see her."

Chloe shot Aubrey a look that clearly said, 'You're not helping!' and went back to twiddling with her clothes. And yeah, Chloe knew that Beca probably wasn't going to be exactly free for most of the evening, but she was still holding out hope that she'd be able to steal the shorter girl away for a dance. Hey, if worse came to worse she could just blame any "mistakes" on jiggle-juice and be on her merry ginger way. Chloe glanced down at her outfit, a dramatic little red dress with sky high heels to match, but she was brought out of her musings by the front door of Beca's apartment being flung open dramatically.

"I've got five hundred dollars in my purse, six inch heels, and at least seven shots with my name on it. Let's get a move on people, let's go, go, go!" Kat certainly seemed exuberant. There was a whoop and holler about dingos and suddenly Fat Amy was whipping her shirt around her head and honestly, how did she even get it off that fast? Kat grinned widely and offered her hand to the easily excitable girl for a high five and Fat Amy horizontally ran off to get her 'croc hunting' gear on. Kat laughed as she left but her excitement was dimmed somewhat when she looked around and saw that half of the Bellas were still in various stages of undress. Literally, Staice was walking around the apartment in a pair of a short shorts that made thongs seem modest and a push up bra that made her boobs look like they had moved past the whole 'Double D' cup and entered the latter half of the alphabet starting at Z.

"Sooooooo," Kat drew the word out dramatically and looked around at the women crammed into Beca's not quite spacious living room. "Are you planning on going out as strippers whose rent is due tomorrow or nah?" All of the Bellas looked at Kat with their jaws somewhere on the ground.

Finally it was Cynthia Rose who sputtered and gestured to Kat's form. She finally managed to form actual words and ask, "You're dressed like that and you have the nerve to call us strippers!"

Kat looked down, genuinely puzzled. "What do you mean? This is modest as hell, especially for Hollywood." All the gathered girls shrugged. While they couldn't exactly verify the validity of Kat's statement, from where they were standing 'modest as hell' were not the first words that came to mind.

This time it was Aubrey who quirked an eyebrow and stated, "Second question, why the hell are you here so early? It's only 5:30. Even I think that's excessive." That got her a few gasps from the gathered Bellas. They all had very distinct memories about the Aca-Nazi (as Beca had dubbed her a week into Bellas rehearsal) screaming at someone or another (usually Beca) about their lack of punctuality. The fact that the woman who had once given them an hour and a half long lecture on the importance of showing up fifteen minutes early when Beca had actually shown up on time for once instead of the apparently unsated but understood fifteen minutes before practice rule had them all a little throw for a loop.

Kat once again looked around in confusion. "What do you mean? We've got dinner at 7:00, we'll head over to the club at 10:00, actually get into the club at maaaaybe 10:45, party our tushes off and then stagger back here sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Sounds like the perfect plans to me."

"But why are you here an hour and a half early?" Aubrey questioned relentlessly. Although she could appreciate a good plan, she was not exactly a fan of having an international pop star walk in on her in an old pair of yoga pants and a tank top while said super star looked like a million dollars. (But seriously, Kat's dress looked like it cost more than Aubrey made in a month, and Aubrey's pay check was NOT small).

Kat shrugged and admitted, "Beca had to head over to the club already and I got bored. And here I thought you people would be excited to be rubbing elbows with the stars tonight."

"What?" Chloe asked with her head cocked curiously to the side. Because, yes Kat was one of the biggest names in pop music right now, but she was also a normal human who teased the Bellas' old friends like it was second nature and called an old friend of theirs names such as pipsqueak and squirt. Honestly, until tonight where she showed dressed like the star she was, Chloe had kind of forgotten that Kat was what most people considered a 'star'.

Kat hummed what was probably a yes as she absently studied her nails (which were disturbingly flawless) and said in a nonchalant tone, "Yeah 7 OnUp is kind of the place to be tonight especially with CC Hale spinning. A lot of the hella big names in Hollywood will be out on the dance floor and the best part is the club is locked down like Fort Knox so no paps can get in. And while some people like the attention more than others, most like the anonymity, or as close to it as you can get at their level of fame, that 7 OnUp offers. Last year I was grinded on by Rhianna, got a lap dance from Channing Tatum, and spent like fifteen minutes talking with Taylor Swift about cats. Big fun."

Kat looked up from inspecting her immaculate thumb nail and blinked twice at the awed looks on the Bellas. "What? I like cats, sue me." Aubrey snorted and made her way into the bedroom to get ready to go out. That was a particular can of worms that she had absolutely no desire to touch. All she was looking forward to tonight was dancing, drinking, and hopefully keeping Chloe from moping the entire night.

Kat settled back in the backseat of the limo TurnStyle had arranged to transport her and the Bellas (something about appeasing people that THE Beca Mitchell almost considered friends). All around her were the rambunctious Bellas. Fat Amy, Stacie, Chloe, and Cynthia-Rose were all bumping, grinding, and all around getting their dance on far earlier than Kat had anticipated.

"Ms McDaniel," Saul, the driver called back over his shoulder. "We've arrived. Would you like me to pull around back?"

"Please Saul," Kat responded and ten minutes later, the Bellas and Kat were elegantly(ish) descending from the limo and walking into the back door (which was actually the front door seeing as nearly all the famous clients used it instead of the gaping front ones). Right through the door was a small receiving room where Kat dropped off her coat and purse without batting an eye and the Bellas all scrambled to follow her lead.

"Alright ladies," Kat said as she turned and addressed the gathering Bellas much like a drill sergeant addressing his cadets (wisely no one mentioned the likeness of Aubrey's running of the Bellas practice however Amy did shoot her a few furtive glances). "Rules for the night!"

"There are rules?!" Amy wailed dramatically while looking genuinely dismayed. Kat, however, completely ignored her.

"Rule #1! You will all got at least a little hammered tonight. No exceptions. Rule #2! None of you will be paying for any of said drinks. Tell the bartenders to put it on Tab 1 and it in turn will go on TurnStyles tab. Rule #3! Please try and keep the dramatic gasping and squealing around famous people to a minimum. They're here to get sloshed just like you all. And Rule #4! If anyone sees Justin Timberlake, hands off he's mine. AND BREAK!" With her speech complete, Kat turned dramatically on her heel and vanished through two double doors. The Bellas all looked at each other uncertainly before almost subconsciously turning to Aubrey.

"Well ladies," she said as she took a deep breath. "Let's go soften the beaches." Amy whooped loudly and with a resounding way cry, she charged forward and flung the doors open. The Bellas stepped through and were hit with the sight of probably the most upscale club any of them had ever been in. The music was pounding, the lights were flashing, and people were dancing in every corner of the room.

Aubrey looked around before her eyes were drawn back to Chloe whose smile had stretched widely for the first time since she last saw Beca. "Oh hell no," she warned when she saw the almost predatory smirk that quickly replaced the grin.

"OH HELL YES BITCHES!" Amy exclaimed exuberantly and she all but dove into the crowds, the rest of the Bellas following at a more sedate pace.

It was just past 11:50 and Chloe was staggering around the club looking desperately for Beca. While she did honestly want to see her long-time crush, the copious amounts of alcohol in her system was probably adding another level of urgency that probably wasn't strictly necessary. With a brilliant amount of realization, she figured that if anyone would know where the snarky ex-Bella was holed up, it would be the DJ. After all, anyone who had spoken to Beca for ten minutes back at Barden knew what her aspirations were.

She vaguely knew that the opening DJ had been replaced about thirty minutes ago to be replaced by CC Hale which got an absolutely ground shaking roar in appreciation. So yeah, Chloe thought as she stumbled her way up an almost hidden staircase. She'd just go ask this CC where Beca was. In and out real quick.

Somehow she snuck past the guard which probably had less to do with her stealthy ninja skills and more to do with the fact that he was leading a pair of highly inebriated girls who were both gorgeous enough to be super models (with the clientele here tonight, they probably WERE supermodels) down a different hallway. Chloe staggered down the hallway, occasionally pulling open a door only to be met with a bunch of sound system and storage system closets.

Finally, she'd reached the end of the hallway and there was only one door left that she hadn't tried. With a triumphant grin, she pulled it open and stuck her head inside. What she saw was not what she expected at all however.

"Beca?" Chloe's voice was shaky and unsure. "What the hell are you doing up here when CC Hale is supposed… to be… playing," with each separate word, Chloe's face became paler and her eyes became wider. "Oh god," Chloe gasped and then she was gone, staggering out the door back to where she came from.

"Shit!" Beca yelped. "Shit, shit, fuckity shit. Chloe!" She made a move to follow after Chloe but she was abruptly yanked back by her headphones which were still plugged into the jack. "Fuck," Beca all but shouted as she made a move to unplug her headphones, right as the current song playing ended.

"Shit," Beca muttered as her fingers flew like fire to play the run of songs she usually had on reserve for when she needed a bathroom break. "Hey, hey guys," Beca breathed into the microwave and she sincerely hoped that her voice didn't sound as breathless as she felt like it did. "Hope you're finished recharging cause we're going way back and we're throwing it down." She clicked on the oldie but a goodie and there was an echoing cheer as the beginning notes of Apache streamed through the club speakers. Beca ripped the headphones off of her head, all but threw them down on the soundboard, and sprinted out the door after Chloe. She skidded around a corner and careened into a warm body.

"Whoah Becs, what's going on?" Tessa asked in concern as she kept a firm grip on Beca's shoulders despite the younger woman's desperate attempts to wriggle past her. "I was on my way up for your check and your voice sounded weird in that last introduction. What's the matter?"

"Tessa, you gotta let me go," Beca pleaded as she lunged once again and actually managed to break through Tessa's iron grip. She took maybe two steps and then she ran smack into Kat. Beca could have cried in frustration.

"Whoah, whoah shorty, where's the fire?"

"Kat you have to let me go!" Beca all but screamed as she once again fought to get past one of her friends. "Chloe knows!" Kat and Tessa froze.

While they and a select group of artists that 'CC Hale' had worked with over the years knew Beca's alter-ego, everyone who had ever come into professional contact with the woman had signed a confidentiality form. They had protocols in place should someone ever discover CC Hale's real identity without them planning for it, but those protocols had been designed almost four and a half years ago and had never been put into practice. Truthfully, they'd all become complacent, believing that no one would ever discover their secret. And now the cat was majorly out of the bag. Not just out of the bag, but tearing up the drapes and pissing in the corner.

Kat summed up the entire situation quite adeptly. "Fuck."

"Shut up, both of you," Tessa hissed as her brain started working a mile a minute. Both superstars fell deathly silent as they stared at Tessa intently. This was Tessa's strong suit, fixing the cataclysmic fuck-ups that seemed to perpetually follow Beca Mitchell no matter where she may wander.

"Alright. Alright," Tessa said, a game plan formulated in her head. "Beca, you get your ass back in the booth and pretend that nothing is wrong." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she held up hand and silenced Beca's loud protests. "This is a big night for you and damn if I'm not going to do my job. Leave the clean up to me, Kat, and Jesse and do your thing dammit." Beca frowned sulkily and slunk back to the DJ booth and vanished inside.

"What am I supposed to be doing?" Kat asked in confusion.

Tessa shot Kat a look and she hissed, "Find me that goddamn ginger." Kat gave a mocking salute and tottered off on her ungodly high-heels. Tessa sighed, dragged her hand across her face, and made her way down following the mildly inebriated popstar to try to find and corral her no doubt highly inebriated boyfriend. It was going to be a looong night.

Chloe staggered away from the DJ booth and ran down the corridor to the stairs. From inside she could hear Beca curse loudly and call after her. She didn't slow down. She bolted past Tessa and then past Kat but she didn't pause. They passed her without incident and Chloe was soon surrounded on all sides by the dancing mass that seemed to her to be the entire city of Los Angeles crammed into the club. Over the pounding in her ears, she vaguely heard Beca's voice float through the air from the speakers.

But she wasn't focusing on that. No, all she wanted was to find Aubrey, get some cash, and get out of here. Fortunately the Bellas as a whole were a rather… conspicuous group. At the moment that Chloe really needed them to come through for them, Fat Amy was standing on a table and demonstrating her Barden-famous Mermaid Dancing routine, Stacie was two steps away from filming her own porno in the middle of the club, and Aubrey was trying to keep the whole hot mess from getting them kicked out.

Aubrey!

Chloe's eyes honed in on the tall and poised blonde and she pushed her way through the throngs of people. Aubrey spotted her right away, her red hair was a smidge of a giveaway, Aubrey also spotted the distressed look on Chloe's face.

As soon as she within ear shot, she asked, "Chloe, what's wrong?" The blonde reached up and brushed away something wet from Chloe's cheek. Oh, she wasn't even aware that she was crying.

"Beca - she's - Aubs, I… I have to go." Aubrey's eyes flew open wide and her face instantly furrowed in worry.

"What? Chloe why? What did the hobbit do this time?" Aubrey immediately knew something was really wrong when Chloe didn't protest to the name 'hobbit'. Usually that got at least a smile.

Instead Chloe sniffed noisily and said firmly, "Aubrey, please I have to go NOW!" "Okay, okay," Aubrey said as she rummaged through her purse and withdrew enough money to cover a cab for her best friend.

Aubrey took the time in between to stare intently on Chloe. She hadn't seen her friend like this in years… about 5 years ago and about a recurring nuisance in Aubrey's life. Beca Mitchell had torn her best friend down once and it had taken years for Chloe to get back to her personality and mentality of pre-Beca. They'd been in contact with the damn alt-girl for half a week and here she was, ripping Chloe apart all over again. "Chloe," Aubrey's voice cracked on her best friend's name. "What did she do?"

Chloe shook her head, her red waves whipping around wildly as she said, "Aubrey, I can't. She just… she just lied to me. Again. She just keeps lying to me."

"About what?" Aubrey was seriously confused. Because as much as she didn't always see eye to eye with Beca Mitchell, a liar is not usually the first insult that sits waiting on her lips. Chloe didn't bother responding, she just turned on her heel and all but bolted out of the club, her hair streaming behind her.

Not even three minutes later, Kat came rushing over and she roughly grabbed Aubrey by the upper arm. Aubrey shot the superstar a glare. She did not appreciate being manhandled, whether her assailant was familiar or unfamiliar to her. "Where's Chloe?" Kat asked hurriedly, her grip not loosening any.

Aubrey felt her eyebrows fly up. "What do you need Chloe for?" she asked suspiciously. The timing was just a little too fishy.

Kat shook her head and asked again, "Aubrey, where is Chloe?"

"Why?" Aubrey asked petulantly.

Kat all but ground her teeth and nearly spat the words, "I can't tell you. Legally, I cannot tell you. Now where the fuck is Chloe?"

Aubrey narrowed her eyes at Kat momentarily before informing her, "She's gone. She left." Kat groaned and finally released Aubrey's arm to rub her hands over her face in frustration. "Where's she going then?"

"I don't know," Aubrey said with a shrug and technically that wasn't a lie.

"Fuck," Kat breathed and then she was gone, twisting and winding in the crowd.

Aubrey blinked in confusion a few times before she asked to no one in particular, "What did the fuckin hobbit do this time?"

**Taaaaa daaaaa. **


End file.
